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OF 

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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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TRADE  MORALS 


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PUBLISHED  BY  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 


MORALS  IN  MODERN  BUSINESS.  Addresses  by  Edward  D. 
Page,  George  W.  Alger,  Henry  Holt,  A.  Barton  Hepburn,  Ed- 
ward W.  Bemis  and  James  McKeen. 

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EVERY-DAY  ETHICS.  Addresses  by  Norman  Hapgood,  Joseph 
E.  Sterrett,  John  Brooks  Leavitt,  Charles  A.  Prouty. 

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INDUSTRY  AND  PROGRESS.     By  Norman  Hapgood. 

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POLITICIAN,  PARTY  AND  PEOPLE.     By  Henry  C.  Emery. 

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QUESTIONS  OF  PUBLIC  POLICY.  Addresses  by  J.  W.  Jenks, 
A.  Piatt  Andrew,  Emory  R.  Johnson  and  Willard  V.  King. 

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TRADE  MORALS:  THEIR  ORIGIN,  GROWTH  AND  PROV- 
INCE. By  Edward  D.  Page. 

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TRADE  MORALS 

THEIR  ORIGIN,  GROWTH 
AND  PROVINCE 


BY 


EDWARD  D.  PAGE 


NEW  HAVEN:  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON:  HUMPHREY  MILFORD 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

MDCCCCXIV 


COPYRIGHT,  1914 
BY  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 


First  printed  July,  1914, 1000  copies 


Bus.  Admin. 
Library 


PREFACE 


This  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  course  of  lectures 
delivered  to  the  graduating  class  at  the  Sheffield 
Scientific  School  of  Yale  University  in  the  spring  of 
1911.  Their  object  was  to  show  in  some  consecutive 
form  the  growth  of  trade  morals  from  the  social 
and  mental  conditions  which  form  the  environment 
of  business  men,  and  to  illustrate  their  meaning  and 
purpose  in  such  a  way  as  to  clarify  if  not  to  solve 
some  difficulties  by  which  the  men  of  our  time  are 
perplexed.  The  lecturer  took  for  granted  a  basis  of 
knowledge  such  as  is  possessed  by  undergraduate 
students  of  the  natural  and  social  sciences,  and  the 
effort  was  made  to  carry  minds  so  prepared  one  step 
further  along  toward  the  interpretation  of  some  of 
the  problems  with  which  they  would  soon  be  com- 
pelled to  cope.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  shortly  to 
come  into  contact  with  business  —  to  engage  in  it,  in 
fact  —  and  he  felt  that  it  was  important  that  they 
should  make  this  start  with  some  definite  notion  of 
the  values  and  problems  involved  in  the  business 
side  of  their  vocational  career. 

My  object,  as  I  explained  to  the  class,  in  the 
impromptu  introduction  to  the  first  lecture,  was  to 
paint  with  a  broad  brush,  in  bright  colors  and  maybe 
with  rough  outlines,  an  impressionistic  picture  of  the 


vi  PREFACE 

interrelations  of  society,  morals  and  mind  in  their 
effect  upon  the  conduct  of  the  business  man.  The 
artist  who  essays  this  object  has  never  been  over- 
concerned  with  such  details  as  he  considers  unessen- 
tial to  the  production  of  his  effect,  and  his  materials 
he  endeavors  so  to  manage  that  they  shall  compose 
at  a  glance  into  a  truthful  portrayal  of  the  whole 
scene  or  subject.  In  like  spirit  I  have  essayed  to 
treat  the  ever  vital  question  of  human  activity,  its 
evolutionary  progress  and  the  co-ordinate  develop- 
ment of  morals — with  especial  reference  and  appli- 
cation to  the  business  problems  of  our  time. 

Originally  composed  in  the  intervals  of  pressing 
business  demands  and  away  from  books  of  reference, 
the  lectures  took  a  somewhat  didactic  form,  which  I 
have  not  been  at  pains  to  alter.  Their  object  was  to 
instruct,  and  to  lead  average  men  to  think,  rather 
than  to  be  the  medium  of  original  work  along  lines 
of  scientific  discovery.  So  far  as  they  lean  upon  the 
sister  sciences  of  biology,  sociology  and  psychology 
I  have  tried  in  them  to  restate  in  a  simple  and  concise 
form,  but  sometimes  from  different  angles  of  vision, 
the  results  arrived  at  by  competent  investigators  in 
these  fields.  If  there  is  anything  original  in  the 
point  of  view  here  taken,  it  must  lie  in  such  results  as 
may  be  derived  from  a  comprehensive  rather  than  an 
intensive  scrutiny  of  the  conditions  which  underlie 
the  entire  fabric  of  business  life.  And  business  acts, 
to  paraphrase  Matthew  Arnold's  famous  generaliza- 
tion of  conduct,  may  make  three  fourths  of  civilized 


PREFACE  vii 

life  in  our  day  and  generation.  Under  modern  con- 
ditions of  exchange  nearly  everybody  in  society  is 
engaged  in  business,  and  upon  its  results  his  welfare 
largely  depends. 

Under  the  circumstances  above  outlined,  it  was 
impossible  to  supply  the  text  with  footnotes  of 
acknowledgment  to  the  various  authorities  upon 
whom  I  have  so  liberally  drawn.  And  so  I  have  been 
obliged  to  refer  the  reader  to  my  sources  in  a  more 
general  way  by  annexing,  at  the  end,  a  list  of  the 
works  on  which  I  have  depended  for  my  material. 

If  in  this  presentation  a  partisan  view  anywhere 
has  been  adhered  to,  my  conclusion  may,  of  course, 
be  questioned  by  those  holding  different  tenets;  in 
which  case  I  shall  hope  either  to  be  able  to  give  a 
good  account  of,  and  support  for,  my  contentions,  or 
have  the  sense  to  make  some  alteration  in  my  view- 
point. But  I  believe  that  the  conclusions  here  pre- 
sented will  well  stand  the  test  of  experience,  being 
founded,  in  the  main,  upon  induction  from  observa- 
tion, and  tinctured  to  no  considerable  degree  with 
unwarranted  inferences  from  imaginary  situations. 
They  do,  however,  summarize  the  results  of  a  per- 
sonal experience  and  observation  of  the  ethical  rela- 
tions of  men  of  business  to  the  community  extending 
over  many  years,  of  which  I  may  hope  sometime  to 
make  a  more  adequate  presentation. 

I  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  kind  suggestions 
of  my  friends;  particularly  those  of  Prof.  Albert 
G.  Keller  of  Yale,  who  revised  the  proofs  of  the 


viii  PREFACE 

first  five  chapters;  and  of  Dr.  Stewart  Paton  of 
Princeton,  whose  criticism  led  to  greater  clarity  in  a 
part  of  the  seventh. 

EDWARD  D.  PAGE. 
Oakland,  N.  J.,  November  3,  1913. 


TO  THE  READER 

Two  preliminary  thoughts,  if  you  please,  before 
we  commit  ourselves,  unrestrained,  to  the  mazes  of 
impulse  and  intellection  through  which  human  con- 
duct is  determined,  with  the  trust  that  at  the  end  we 
shall  have  emerged  successfully  into  a  clearer  light 
of  understanding  and  decision. 

The  first  is  this;  that  it  is  necessary  to  remember 
always  that  the  definite  and  distinct  classes,  grades, 
modes,  levels,  etc.,  of  which  we  shall  be  obliged  to  Classifica- 
speak,  while  aiding  the  clear  comprehension  of  series  tion  an 
of  events  or  natural  phenomena,  do  not  in  fact  exist  imperfect 
in  the  exact  sense  with  which  they  are  described;  and  process 
are    not    separated    from    each    other   by   clear-cut 
boundaries   or   lines   of   demarcation.      In   all   the 
sciences    having   to    do   with   life,    classes,    genera, 
species  and  varieties  are  in  outline  more  shadowy 
than  distinct.    There  is  a  twilight  zone  or  penumbra 
between  neighboring  varieties,  in  which  one  shades 
off  more  or  less  gradually  into  the  other,  with  more 
or    less    mingling    of    their    features.      We    must 
not  forget  that  the  classification  of  the  sciences  is  An  effort 
only   an    approximation   made    imperative   by   that  of  the  finite 
imperfection   of   the   human   mind   which   demands  to  realize 
halting  places  from  which  to  survey  its  work.  tne  infinite 

The  natural  state  of  all  things  is  a  state  of  motion. 
The  rate  may  be  very  slow,  as  in  the  building  up  of 
geological  strata,  or  very  rapid,  as  in  the  case  of  what 


TO  THE  READER 


The  artifice 
of  classifi- 
cation 


Decline  of 

formal 

religion 


men  in  their  ignorance  have  called  the  "fixed"  stars, 
but  there  is  always  motion  except  perhaps  in  death. 
Nature  progresses  by  the  gradual  and  insidious 
methods  of  evolution  and  never  halts.  But  a 
human  sense  finds  great  difficulty  in  observing  objects 
in  motion.  It  cannot  readily  comprehend  them;  and 
so,  instantaneous  photographs  of  the  postures 
actually  assumed  by  so  familiar  an  object  as  a 
running  horse  seem  unreal,  unless  taken  at  some 
stage  of  comparative  rest  that  can  be  easily  recog- 
nized by  the  eye. 

To  overcome  this  difficulty,  in  the  study  of  the 
sciences,  men  have  devised  classifications,  that  is  to 
say,  convenient  but  artificial  stopping  places,  where 
the  mind  turns  away,  as  it  were,  from  the  constant 
survey  of  motion  and  looks  backward  for  a  moment 
to  inspect  what  has  gone  before.  The  divisions  or 
categories  by  which  it  reviews  the  facts  of  observa- 
tion are  only  stages  wherein  certain  characteristics 
have  become  more  salient  than  in  others;  and  so  lend 
their  name,  for  the  purpose  of  convenient  recogni- 
tion, to  a  zone  through  which  sequential  changes  are 
nevertheless  constantly  passing  at  greater  or  lesser 
rates  of  motion. 

The  second  thought  is  less  difficult  of  statement. 
In  the  decline  of  formal  religious  influence  which 
has  marked  the  course  of  civilization  during  the  last 
forty  years  there  is  a  gap  left  where  once  there  was 
a  keen  impulse  to  right  living,  and  right  living  more 
than  anything  else  is  dependent  upon  right  think- 


TO  THE  READER  xi 

ing.  In  default  of  the  rise  of  another  great  Moral 
Master,  we  must  found  our  hope  on  an  ethical  pro- 
gress fashioned  by  and  of  the  people  itself.  So  that 
from  a  democratic  consideration  of  conduct  we  may  Democracy 
hope  to  see  principles  arise  with  whose  assistance  in  morals 
we  may  make  moral  rules  to  fit  the  new  modes  of 
action  into  which  we  have  been  forced  by  the  techni- 
cal and  scientific  advances  of  the  times.  If  this 
progress  is  to  be  aided  by  the  study  of  ethics  its  con- 
clusions must  be  expressed  in  words  derived  from 
the  vernacular.  Dissertations  which  only  college 
professors  can  understand  without  effort,  are  of 
very  little  value  in  leading  people  generally  to  think 
about  conduct.  And  so,  the  terms  used  must  be  those  Value  of  the 
which  English-speaking  people  may  understand  so  vernacular 
natively  that  they  will  not  shy  at  the  effort  of  think- 
ing in  them.  Having  experienced  the  ease  of  compre- 
hension which  went  with  the  reading  of  Professor 
Sumner's  massive  but  undigested  treatise  on  the 
folkways,  I  have  ventured  to  follow  his  example, 
and  to  form  such  new  terms  as  seemed  necessary 
from  words  already  current  in  English  use.  To  do 
so  is  no  easy  task  and  I  shamefully  admit  one  or  two 
lazy  departures,  which,  in  case  it  is  ever  necessary 
to  reprint,  I  shall  endeavor  to  correct.  For  the 
reader's  convenience  I  have  prefixed  to  these  papers 
the  definitions  of  all  terms  used  in  special  or  definite 
senses  therein;  and  now  commend  myself  to  his  most 
charitable  indulgence. 


DEFINITIONS 

Agent — the  doer  of  an  act  of  conduct  or  behavior. 

Antagonism — the  general  principle  of  mutually  resisting 
forces  which  underlies  all  nature,  whose  expressions  are 
discord,  conflict,  competition,  individualism,  radiation, 
centrifugence,  etc. 

Anthropology — the  system  of  knowledge  relating  to  man. 

Behavior — involuntary  action  moulded  to  ends  through 
natural  forces  acting  according  to  natural  law. 

Business — human  activity  in  the  exchange  of  services,  com- 
modities or  money. 

Character — the  combination  of  qualities  in  any  person  aris- 
ing from  his  disposition,  temperament  and  habits  of 
conduct — an  expression  for  the  sum  of  the  natureways 
and  nurtureways  of  a  person. 

Civilization — the  aggregate  expression  of  the  life  of  a  nation 
in  its  arts,  sciences  and  modes  of  conduct. 

Clan — a  folkgroup  of  families  held  together  by  the  sentiment 
of  descent  from  a  common  ancestor. 

Class-custom — (see  group-custom). 

Commerce — the  exchange  of  commodities,  between  different 
peoples  or  folkgroups. 

Commodities — goods  destined  to  be  exchanged. 

Concurrence — the  general  principle  of  mutually  co-operating 
forces  which  underlies  all  nature,  and  whose  expressions 
are  attraction,  gravity,  harmony,  co-operation,  combina- 
tion, socialism,  centripetence,  etc. 

Conduct — voluntary  action  adjusted  to  ends  (Spencer). 

Custom — habitual  conduct,  common  to  a  group,  consciously 
recognized  as  conducive  to  welfare. 


DEFINITIONS  xiii 

Disposition — the  sum  of  all  the  instincts  and  acquired  habits 
of  using  or  controlling  them  of  any  person. 

Economics — the  system  of  knowledge  relating  to  conduct 
involved  in  the  production  of  wealth. 

Ethics — the  system  of  knowledge  relating  to  moral  conduct. 

Family — a  group  of  two  or  more  individuals  of  different 
sexes;  essentially  parents  with  their  children;  held 
together  by  the  instinct  of  reproduction. 

Fear — a  sentiment  derived  from  the  instinct  of  flight — a 
motive  to  conduct  through  (a)  fear  of  the  environment, 
men,  outgroups,  wild  beasts,  disease  or  (b)  fear  of  the 
folkgroup,  of  ancestors  or  gods. 

Finance — (human  activity  in)  the  exchange  of  money  or  the 
written  representatives  of  money  value. 

Folk — (in  combination)  pertaining  to  the  folkgroup. 

Folk-custom — a  uniform  mode  of  conscious  folkgroup  con- 
duct; derived  from  folkways  recognized  as  conducive  to 
groupal  welfare  ["one  of  the  mores"  (Sumner) ;  "Sitte" 
(Wundt)]. 

Folkfaith — the  religious  belief  of  a  folkgroup. 

Folk-feeling — social  sentiment,  public  opinion  of  a  folkgroup. 

Folkgroup — the  largest  number  of  human  groups  who  at 
a  given  time  and  place  feel  that  they  are  held  together 
for  the  satisfaction  of  common  interests; — the  prevailing 
social  group. 

Folklaw — the  common  law;  folk-custom  methodized  and 
declared  by  courts  of  law. 

Folkspeech — the  language  of  a  folkgroup. 

Folkways — a  uniform  mode  of  conduct  practiced  by  men 
in  group  or  mass  conditions,  under  the  stimulation 
of  common  interests;  usage,  social  habit  [Brauch 
(Wundt)]. 


xiv  DEFINITIONS 

Folkweal — the  welfare  of  the  folkgroup. 

Folkwill — the  will  of  the  folkgroup  (Volkwille). 

Group — any    number   of    individuals    thinking    and    acting 

together  for  a  common  purpose. 
Group-custom — a  uniform  mode  of  conduct,  common  to  a 

group  or  class,  and  consciously  recognized  as  conducive 

to  its  welfare. 
Habit — a  uniform  mode  of  acting  established  by  a  person 

in  the  effort  better  to  adjust  himself  to  his  environment 

[Gewohnheit  (Wundt)]. 
Heterethnic — of  other  groups. 
Humanistics — uniform    groupal    modes   of   conduct    arising 

from  pity  or  compassion  for  individuals. 
Hunger — a  feeling  derived  from  tropisms,  the  stimulus  of 

the  alimentary  instincts. 

Industry — human  activity  in  the  production  of  commodities. 
Instinct — a  faculty  motiving  behavior  in  animals  and  man; 

reflexes  co-ordinated  by  a  central  nervous  ganglion  or 

brain. 
Instinctive  act — a  uniform  mode  of  behavior  motived   by 

instincts. 

Institution — an  organized  and  formal  artifice  for  the  promo- 
tion of  folk-custom  or  humanistics. 
Law — a  rule  of  external  human  action,  affirmed  and  enforced 

by  the  folkgroup. 

Love — the  emotional  expression  of  the  reproductive  instinct. 
Market — a  group  of  buyers  and  sellers  (Emery). 
Morals — the  rules  of  right  conduct  recognized  as  valid  at  any 

given  time  by  any  group. 
Nation — a  folkgroup  of  families  or  tribes  held  together  by 

the  necessity  of  peace. 


DEFINITIONS  xv 

Natureways — modes  of  behavior ;  uniform  unconscious  modes 

of  action,  produced  by  the  natural  environment. 
Nurtureways — modes  of  conduct;  uniform  conscious  modes 

of  human  action  produced  by  education  under  group 

conditions. 
Personality — the  self-expression  of  a  person  as  determined 

by  his  self-consciousness. 
Pity — sympathy  for  the  sufferings  of  others,  together  with  a 

desire  to  relieve  them. 
Psychology — the   system   of   knowledge   relating   to   neuro- 

mental  phenomena. 
Reflexes — uniform  modes  of  behavior,  the  indirect  effect  of 

environment  on  the  organism  through  nervous  ganglia; 

tropisms  co-ordinated  by  a  spinal  cord. 
Self-consciousness — the  sum  of  knowledge,  at  a  given  time, 

possessed  by  a  person  of  himself,  his  feelings  and  desires. 
Sociology — the  system  of  knowledge  relating  to  men  or  ani- 
mals living  together  in  groups. 

Subject — one  who  is  subjected  to  an  act  done  by  another. 
Temperament — mental   expression   as   influenced   by   bodily 

organs  and  nervous  system. 
Trade — the    exchange    of    commodities    between    markets 

(Emery). 
Transportation — the  conveyance  of  persons  or  commodities 

from  one  place  to  another. 
Tribe — a  folkgroup  of  families  or  clans  held  together  by  the 

need  for  efficiency  in  war. 
Tropism — a  mode  of  behavior  which  is  the  direct  response 

of  an  organism  to  its  environment. 

Vanity — the  expression  of  the  instinct  of  positive  self-feeling. 
Volition — conscious  choice  between  motives. 
Welfare — a  state  or  condition,  arising  from  the  adjustment 

of  an  organism  to  its  environment. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE      v 

To  THE  READER ix 

DEFINITIONS xii 

I.     THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  ....'.  1 

II.     THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS       ....  17 

III.  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT     ....  33 

IV.  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS 50 

V.    THE  EVOLUTION  OF  HUMANISTIC  IDEALS     .  72 

VI.     MORAL  ADJUNCTS — INSTITUTIONS  AND  CON- 
SCIENCE       91 

VII.    THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL:  ITS  REGU- 
LATION OF  THE  IMPULSES    115 

VIII.    THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES — BUSINESS    .      .  136 
IX.     BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  TWENTIETH 

CENTURY  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES       .      .  160 

X.     IMMIGRATION — QUICK  TRADING       .      .      .  188 

XL     MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS  ....  213 

XII.     COMPETITION — CONTRACT — CONCLUSIONS    .  242 

SOURCES 263 

INDEX  273 


TRADE   MORALS 


I 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY 

On  the  granite  block  which  forms  the  corner  stone 
of  one  of  the  largest  manufactories  in  New  Eng- 
land— the  first  mill  successfully  established  in  this 
country  to  spin  and  weave  flax  into  linen  cloths — 
there  is  carved  in  strong  letters  these  words : 

"  All  was  others, 
All  will  be  others." 

In  this  rude  phrasing  is  expressed  a  thought  that 
has  dominated  and  guided  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  last  half  century.    With  the  issue  in  1859 
of  Darwin's  Origin  of  Species,  began  the  conception,  The 
now  grown  to  a  conclusion,  that  everything  within  Doctrine  of 
our  ken,  instead  of  being  at  rest  or  in  fixed  or  stable  Evolution 
equilibrium,  is  really  in  a  continual  state  of  motion 
or  change;  that  what  today  is,  is  the  issue  of  some- 
thing that  was  yesterday  and  is  the  source  of  some- 
thing else  that  will  be  tomorrow — "All  was  others; 
All  will  be  others." 

Darwin's  great  discovery  answered  the  question: 
Are  there  causes  in  Nature  for  the  differences  which  its 
we   observe   between   the   many  varieties   of  living  Biological 
animals  and  plants?     With  additions  and  subtrac-  application 
tions  it  remains  today  the  accepted  doctrine  account- 


TRADE  MORALS 


Its 

extension 
to  the 
Physical 
Sciences 


Evolution 

in 

Psychology 


ing  for  the  development  of  all  the  different  living 
species  which  exist  upon  the  face  of  the  Earth.  Upon 
this  doctrine  is  based  the  theory  of  the  biological 
sciences,  Botany,  Zoology,  Physiology,  Geology  and 
all  their  kindred  branches  of  knowledge.  More 
recently  this  doctrine  of  continual  change  and  devel- 
opment has  made  its  way  into  the  physical  sciences, 
Chemistry,  Physics  and  Mineralogy,  and  we  may 
now  more  than  suspect  that  the  metals  themselves, 
once  a  type  of  stability  and  inertness,  are  like  living 
beings  subject  to  their  own  laws  of  orderly  and 
sequential  change.  Modern  study  of  the  phenomena 
of  radio-activity  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that  like 
plants  they  have  a  period  of  growth,  and  possibly 
of  decay — measured  indeed  by  eons  instead  of  by 
years.  Before  long  the  philosopher's  stone  may 
have  become  a  reality. 

Firmly  established  as  the  interpretation  of  the 
observed  sequence  of  facts  with  respect  to  the  origin 
and  growth  of  physiological  structure  and  function, 
the  theory  of  evolution  is  now  extended  to  the 
explanation  of  the  problems  presented  by  the  more 
newly  observed  assimilations  between  the  mental 
processes  of  men  and  beasts.  And  so,  Psychology 
is  learning  not  only  that  the  active  instincts  of  man 
originate  in  the  lower  animals,  but  that  intellectual 
ideas  which  have  been  classed  as  self-evident — 
axioms  which  Euclid  or  Plato  used  as  the  starting 
point  of  their  logical  arguments — are  by  no  means 
intuitively  inherent  in  the  natural  constitution  of  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  3 

human  mind.  Rather  do  we  now  regard  those 
fundamental  notions  in  mathematical  and  logical 
sciences  which  we  call  axioms,  aphorisms,  maxims, 
precepts  or  proverbs,  and  with  which  people  start 
their  reasoning  as  postulates  or  self-evident  truths, 
as  growing  out  of  the  observation  and  inference  of 
many  generations  over  an  immense  period  of  time. 
It  follows  that  two  and  two  make  four,  that  things 
equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to  each  other, 
that  the  whole  is  greater  than  its  part,  are  proposi- 
tions universally  accepted  without  argument,  not 
because  of  any  inherent  incapacity  of  the  mind  to 
question  them,  but  because  centuries  of  observation 
have  proven  them  to  be  statements  of  fact,  whereby 
an  unconscious  and  universal  habit  has  been  formed 
of  regarding  them  as  self-evident  and  necessary 
truths. 

If,  then,  the  facts,  of  which  we  have  taken  a  brief 
survey,    advancing   from   the   more   elementary   of 
inert  matter  to  the  more  complex  of  the  human  body 
and  brain,  may  all  be  generalized  as  nothing  else  than 
particular   phases   of  the   universal   phenomena   of 
change  and  growth,  how  is  it  when  we  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  yet  more  complex  aspects  of  mankind  Evolution 
in  combination — the  moral,  economic  and  political  in 
relations  which  they  assume  to  each  other  in  society?  Sociology 
Are  there  the  same  problems  of  change  and  growth 
to  be  solved  in  the  sphere  of  the  mutual  relations  of 
man  to  man?     And  does  the  theory  of  evolution 
play  the  same  part  in  the  solution  of  these  social 


TRADE  MORALS 


Conduct 


Its  laws 
found  by 
abstraction 


problems  as  it  does  in  the  other  less  complex  fields  of 
inquiry?  For  it  is  plain  that  the  relations  of  man  to 
man  in  social  life  depend  upon  the  conduct  of  each 
man  toward  the  other,  considered  first  as  individuals, 
and  then  as  bound  together  by  some  tie  of  associa- 
tion, as  in  a  state,  or  as  in  a  common  employment, 
and  that  this  conduct,  being  both  intangible  and 
diffuse,  is  a  matter  of  much  greater  complexity  than 
any  of  those  previously  considered.  Intangible 
because  unrecorded,  except  as  to  the  infinitesimal 
fraction  which  is  of  contemporary  interest;  diffuse, 
because  so  widespread  that  it  is  beyond  the  power 
of  any  observer  to  perceive  more  than  another  small 
fraction  of  the  whole. 

Conduct,  "voluntary  action  adjusted  to  ends,"1 
follows  apparently  the  caprices  of  the  human  will, 
and  at  first  blush  would  seem  to  be  a  subject  incap- 
able of  appraisal  and  classification  by  the  scientific 
methods  which  have  classified  the  more  fixed  and 
settled  phenomena  of  nature,  recognized  their  inter- 
relations .and  established  the  laws  of  their  uniform 
sequence  in  action.  Nevertheless,  through  the 
method  of  segregation  or  abstraction,  that  is  to  say, 
by  considering  a  certain  class  of  conduct  by  itself, 
men  have  made  some  progress  in  formulating  the 
uniform  correspondence  and  sequence  of  conduct, 
and  have  reached  some  definite  scientific  conceptions 
of  common  modes  of  human  action  shown  in  rea- 
soning, as  in  Logic  or  Mathematics;  in  the  accu- 

1  Herbert  Spencer,  Data  of  Ethics,  p.  2. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  5 

mulation  of  wealth,  as  in  Economics ;  in  talking,  as  in 
Linguistics;  and  in  the  ways  in  which  human  beings 
live  together,  as  in  Sociology.  Each  of  these  sciences 
has  succeeded  in  some  degree  in  its  quest  for  laws  or 
universal  ways  by  which  men  act  when  reasoning, 
when  earning,  when  speaking  or  when  associating  in 
a  society. 

Society,  in  the  general  sense  in  which  I  have  here  What  is 
used  it,  is  not  the  little  fellowship  of  congenial  people  Society? 
in  a  neighborhood  who  take  themselves  seriously  as 
the  self-appointed  guardians  of  etiquette  or  courte- 
sies, to  appraise  exactly  the  value  of  various  styles 
of  dress,  or  the  strict  obligations  of  mutual  enter- 
tainment. On  the  contrary,  what  I  refer  to  is  the 
largest  body  of  persons  who  feel  that  they  are  held 
together  for  the  satisfaction  of  common  interests. 
A  common  political  organization  is  not  of  necessity 
the  tie;  for  three  quarters  of  a  century  prior  to  the 
Civil  War  two  distinct  societies  were  united  in  the 
Federal  Union,  yet  with  such  diverse  interests  as  to 
eventually  rend  them  asunder.  Except  by  force, 
Ulster  and  Kerry  can  hardly  be  held  together  on 
their  common  island  with  their  common  speech  and 
with  their  common  king.  Nor  should  we  say 
that  Austria  and  Hungary,  though  joined  by  a 
common  rule,  and  contributors  to  a  common  war 
chest,  are  anything  but  two  distinct  societies. 
Common  language  is  not  the  tie;  quite  different  in 
social  customs  and  aspirations  are  Canada  and  New 
Zealand.  The  bond  that  unites  men  into  a  society  is 


TRADE  MORALS 


Ethics  the 
science  of 
right  and 
wrong 
conduct 


Not  all 
conduct-  is 
moral  or 
immoral 


one  of  common  thought  and  feeling,  and  centuries 
of  political  separation  as  with  the  Poles  in  Austria, 
Germany  and  Russia,  or  with  the  Greeks  in  Crete 
and  the  Archipelago,  are  powerless  to  destroy  it. 

Ethics  is  the  science  by  which  we  endeavor  to  dis- 
cover principles  governing  human  conduct  when 
appraised  as  either  right  or  wrong.  Its  method  is 
similar  to  that  of  its  sister  science  of  Political 
Economy,  which  has  to  do  with  the  principles  guiding 
human  conduct  toward  gainful  or  wasteful  ends.  In 
the  one,  conduct  having  moral  effect,  purport  or 
implication  is  segregated  for  the  time  being  from  all 
other  conduct  for  study  and  classification;  just  as  in 
the  other,  conduct  having  a  bearing  on  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth  is  segregated  for  the  same  purpose. 
Not  all  conduct  must  of  necessity  be  moral  or 
immoral;  often  it  has  no  moral  significance  whatso- 
ever and  is  therefore  simply  unmoral.  We  should 
not  think  of  attaching  moral  consequences  to  ordi- 
nary eating  or  drinking,  the  wearing  of  a  coat  or  the 
drawing  of  a  check  for  money.  And  yet  we  must 
admit  that  under  circumstances  gluttony  or  excessive 
drinking  of  stimulants  may  be  immoral  because  of  its 
consequences  to  our  families  or  business  associates; 
we  should  quickly  find  ourselves  in  jail  were  we  to 
venture  on  the  street  naked,  and  were  we  to  draw  a 
check  on  a  bank  in  which  we  had  no  account  we 
would  subject  ourselves  to  the  charge  of  fraud,  and 
to  criminal  prosecution.  The  essential  difference 
between  the  acts  to  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  7 

attributing  moral  significance  and  those  which  have 
no  implication  of  right  and  wrong  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  former  are  good  or  bad  for  others  than  our- 
selves, that  is  to  say,  they  affect  either  the  feelings 
or  welfare  of  our  families,  or  of  our  neighbors,  or 
maybe  of  the  whole  society  in  which  the  acts  are 
performed  and  of  which  the  actor  is  a  part. 

If  we  could  consider  man  as  an  isolated  individual  In  isolation 
we  can  understand  why  it  is  necessarily  impossible  no  morals 
for  him  under  such  circumstances  to  pursue  an 
immoral  course  of  conduct;  for  in  his  case  there  is 
no  other  person  to  be  injured  or  benefited  by  his 
conduct.  So  long  as  Robinson  Crusoe  remained 
alone  on  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez  his  acts  con- 
cerned no  one  but  himself  and  hence  were  neither 
wrong  nor  right.  They  might  only  be  wise  or  foolish 
so  far  as  they  were  correctly  or  imperfectly  adjusted 
to  his  own  survival  in  the  environment  by  which  he 
was  surrounded.  But  from  the  moment  that  he 
found  in  the  sand  the  footprints  of  the  man  Friday 
some  part  of  his  conduct  was  adjusted  with  reference 
to  this  other  person  and  thus  was  in  the  way  of  being 
compared  with  some  standard,  to  agree  with  which 
would  be  right,  or  to  differ  with  would  be  wrong. 
Conduct  may  have  a  variety  of  qualities;  it  may  be 
wise  or  imprudent,  thrifty  or  wasteful,  sensible  or 
foolish,  healthy  or  morbid;  and  yet  neither  right  nor 
wrong.  Or  it  may  be  several  of  these  and  also  right 
or  wrong. 

Like  a  bargain  or  a  quarrel,  it  takes  two  to  make 


8 


TRADE  MORALS 


Moral 
conduct  a 
social 
matter 


Sociology 


Social 
traces  in 
fossil  life 


moral  conduct.  It  therefore  follows  that  the  science 
which  deals  with  right  and  wrong  conduct  is  essen- 
tially one  of  the  sciences  of  society.  It  assumes  and 
is  dependent  upon  that  aggregation  of  men  and 
women,  leading  a  common  existence,  and  depending 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree  upon  each  other  for  the 
amenities  of  life,  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of  calling 
a  community,  people  or  society. 

Society  being  the  fabric  upon  which  is  traced  the 
embroidery  of  moral  conduct,  it  will  be  necessary 
briefly  to  inquire  into  its  raw  material  and  texture  as 
shown  by  the  researches  of  the  biological  and  anthro- 
pological sciences. 

Looking  backward  by  the  aid  of  these  departments 
of  knowledge  to  the  earliest  known  manifestations 
of  the  existence  of  man,  we  can  find  no  conditions 
under  which  even  the  most  primitive  of  mankind  are 
devoid  of  some  form  of  association.  Paleontology 
even  teaches  us  through  fossils  preserved  in  early 
geological  strata  that  the  roots  of  social  life  are  to 
be  found  in  the  most  primeval  animal  history.  In  the 
Paleozoic  Age  the  compound  nature  of  many  poly- 
zoan  fossils  points  clearly  to  the  existence  of  societies 
in  lower  forms  of  life,  whose  individual  members 
were  dependent  upon  each  other  and  upon  the  entire 
group  or  colony  for  food,  propagation  and  protec- 
tion from  the  enemies  that  might  otherwise  have 
destroyed  them. 

What  little  we  know  of  the  habits  of  living  animals 
confirms  the  same  general  principle  of  a  rudimentary 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  9 

social   or   collective   activity  which   permeates   and  Social  traits 
pervades  almost  the  entire  range  of  animal  existence,   of  the  lower 
Many  Polyzoa,  like  corals  and  sponges,  cannot  exist  animals 
independently  of  others  of  their  kind.     Insects,  like 
ants   and  bees,   dwell  together  in  orderly  swarms. 
Fishes    are    found   together   in   schools    or   shoals.   Of  the 
Birds  consort  in  broods,  coveys  and  flocks.    Among  higher 
the  higher  mammals,   flocks,   herds  and  droves  of  animals 
wild  sheep,  deer  and  cattle  show  a  like  social  organi- 
zation; a  tendency  which  seems  to  weaken  only  in  the 
case  of  a  few  carnivora  and  birds  of  prey,  and  even 
with  these  there  is  never  less  than  a  pair. 

What  are  the  causes  that  underlie  this  tendency  to  Causes  of 
animal  association?  In  the  lower  forms,  scantily  animal 
provided  with  motive  capacity,  it  would  seem  to  soclety 
arise  from  a  need  of  greater  self-protection  than  an 
individual  can  furnish — a  co-operation,  so  to  speak, 
in  building  a  barrier,  such  as  a  shell,  against  the 
assaults  of  more  alert  and  food-seeking  enemies;  and 
this  structure  by  reason  of  its  weight  assists  in 
the  capture  of  sea-borne  food  which  floats  more 
rapidly  in  the  current  than  do  the  heavy  protective 
tissues  which  the  colony  secretes.  It  is  quite  appar- 
ent that  an  individual  escaping  from  such  a  colony 
would  have  a  comparatively  slight  chance  of  survival 
wherever  foes  were  plentiful  and  food  scarce.  In  the 
higher  animals  a  flock  or  herd  will  better  escape 
beasts  of  prey  by  the  warning  or  even  by  the  sacrifice 
of  one  of  its  outlying  sentinels;  and  the  group  sur- 
vives where  stragglers  perish.  A  group,  too,  gives 


10 


TRADE  MORALS 


Causes  of 

human 

society 


Hunger 
Love 
Vanity 
Fear 


greater  opportunities  for  sexual  commerce  and  for 
the  protection  of  the  young,  so  that  it  can  reproduce 
a  larger  number  of  its  kind,  in  whom  a  habit  of  asso- 
ciation, become  instinctive,  will  strengthen  with  each 
successive  generation. 

Society,  as  Sumner  points  out  in  his  Folkways,  is 
the  result  of  an  effort  to  satisfy  interests  growing  out 
of  four  motive  forces  common  to  all  mankind,  tersely 
stated  as  Hunger,  Love,  Vanity  and  Fear.2  These 
may  be  called  the  primitive  motives,  because  even 
across  the  vague  boundaries  which  part  humankind 
from  animalkind  we  find  them  efficient  causes  of 
social  formation,  in  which  the  brutes  participate  as 
well  as  our  goodselves.  Hunger,  the  need  of  sus- 
tenance; love,  the  need  of  reproduction;  are  biotic 
motives  common  in  some  form  to  all  life,  be  it 
vegetal  or  animal.  But  only  beings  possessing  a 
centralized  ganglionic  nervous  organization  are  sus- 
ceptible to  the  motives  of  fear  and  vanity,  important, 
as  we  shall  see,  to  survival  in  the  more  complex 
environment  of  all  higher  types  of  organisms. 
No  being  without  some  form  of  mental  devel- 
opment can  experience  them,  and  therefore  they  may 
be  called  psychic  motives.  For  centuries  they  have 
been  recognized  in  literature  and  language  as  per- 

2  It  is  quite  possible  that  this,  as  a  classification  of  motives,  is 
by  no  means  exhaustive,  for  all  of  the  instincts  seem  to  be  more 
or  less  involved  in  the  production  of  folkways.  On  the  other  hand 
it  is  the  essential  part  of  a  fundamentally  true  picture,  and  by  its 
vividness  will  be  the  more  easily  recalled  to  the  student's  mind. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  11 

taining  to  the  brutes  as  well  as  to  ourselves.  Has 
not  the  peacock  always  been  the  symbol  of  vanity, 
and  "chicken-hearted"  or  "pigeon-hearted"  a  type 
of  timidity  when  applied  to  man?3 

After   the    recognition    of   the    germ    of    society  Sub-human 
throughout  the  animate  life  of  the  ages,  however  origin  of 
remote,  it  is  easy  to  surmise  that  in  the  most  primi-  Society 
tive    form   of   human   living   some   kind   of    social 
structure  will  be  found.    And  so,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
except  as  a  sport,  or  abnormal  exception,  the  isolated 
individual  man  does  not  exist ;  and  incapable  of  self- 
propagation,  his  type  cannot  survive.     Go  back  as 
far  as  we  can  in  anthropological  research  we  can  find 
no  time  nor  place  in  which  mankind  was  not  organ- 
ized in  groups.     It  seems  reasonable  that  the  funda- 
mental group  is  the  family,  consisting  of  parents  and 
their  children  during  their  period  of  helplessness.4 
To  borrow  an  illustration  from  chemistry,  the  family  The 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  sociological  atom,  the  Family  a 
hypothetically  indivisible  group   recognized  by  the  sociological 
science  of  mankind.  atom 

But  this  family  group,  the  social  atom,  is  itself 

8  It  is  true  that  Sumner  attempts  to  restrict  his  definition  of  fear 
to  that  inspired  by  ghosts  and  spirits — too  narrow,  I  believe,  for 
that  fear  of  consequences  inspired  by  a  living  enemy  or  by  social 
punishment,  of  which  animal  instinct  as  well  as  human  intelligence 
affords  so  many  illustrations. 

4  Mindful  of  the  fact  that  the  family  is  not  necessarily  monog- 
amous nor  even  monandrous,  and  that  pre-marital  promiscuity  is 
known  to  exist  along  with  a  subsequent  fixed  ideal  of  marital  fidel- 
ity, I  think  there  is  ground  to  agree  with  Westermarck's  conclusion 
as  to  the  non-survival  of  the  horde  or  herd  group  in  human  society. 


12 


TRADE  MORALS 


only  exceptionally  capable  of  independent  or  isolated 
existence;  and  like  the  physical  or  chemical  atom  can 
effectively  persist  only  in  combination  with  other 
similar  atoms,  forming  a  larger  social  group,  just  as 
groups  of  atoms  form  the  larger  chemical  molecule. 
The  earliest  form  of  a  larger  social  group  of  which 
we  have  positive  knowledge  is  composed  of  two  or 
more  related  families,  and  may  be  thought  of  as  the 
sociological  molecule,  the  smallest  portion  that  is 
capable  of  prolonged  or  permanent  separate  exist- 
ence. In  the  formation  of  such  social  groups 
anthropology  shows  that  everywhere  and  always  a 
common  line  of  evolution  has  been  followed;  that 
The  Clan  the  clan,  or  kinship  group,  composed  of  a  number 
or  Kinship  of  families  and  founded  upon  some  fact  or  theory  of 
Group  blood  relationship,  is  the  original  form  of  molecule 

into  which  all  primitive  races  have  first  compounded 
themselves  for  political  or  social  purposes.  Uni- 
versally, therefore,  the  original  coherent  force  that 
held  together  a  combination  of  similar  family  atoms 
A  in  the  larger  molecule  of  the  clan  was  the  sentiment 

sociological   of  descent  from  a  common  ancestor, 
molecule  An    interesting    expression    of   this    sentiment    is 

found  in  the  words  which  are  used  in  the  languages 
of  nations  far  beyond  the  stage  where  the  former 
existence  of  clan  groups  is  even  remembered.  And 
so  each  citizen  of  Rome  called  his  country  Patria — 
fatherland — long  after  the  feeling  of  descent  from 
a  common  ancestor  which  had  held  together  the  clan 
of  Romulus  and  Remus  on  the  seven  hills  had  passed 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  13 

from  the  realm  of  fact  to  that  of  fancy.  To  this 
day  a  relic  of  common  descent  can  be  seen  in  the 
Scottish  clan  surnames,  whose  prefix  Mac  is  the 
Gaelic  word  for  son.  There  are  numerous  instances 
where  words  indicative  of  common  ancestry  have 
survived  the  extinction  of  the  clan  through  its  absorp- 
tion into  a  greater  group.  And  pioneer  colonists, 
settled  in  isolation  under  primitive  conditions,  often 
revert  in  their  group  structure  to  clan  formations — 
a  process  not  uncommon  in  the  mountains  of  our 
Middle  South. 

In  its  general  formation  a  primitive  clan  group 
follows  out  with  great  similarity  the  group  method 
of  anthozoans  and  other  polyzoans.     Each  human 
family,  like  each  sponge  or  coral  insect,  is  similarly 
constituted,  and  in  either  case  the  molecule  is  com- 
posed of  aggregations  of  equal  or  similar  atoms,  be 
they   families   or   insects.      Human   families   under 
these  conditions  are  no  more  self-sufficing  and  inde- 
pendent than  those  of  their  insect  analogues,  and 
when  several  families  are  brought  together  into  one  Clan 
community,  they  find  it  easier  to  protect  themselves  conditions 
against  the  aggressions  of  men  or  of  wild  beasts;  to  satisfy 
mate  without  incest  or  inbreeding,  and  to  co-operate 
in  the  pursuit  of  game,  in  the  management  of  flocks 
or   in    averaging  the    risks   of   tillage.      Combined      U1 
recognition  of  personal  efficiency,  of  group  prowess, 
fostering  family  and  clan  pride — both  gaining  added 
force  from  the  reaction  of  one  mind  upon  another — 
satisfies  better  in  clanship  the  interests  flowing  out 


14 


TRADE  MORALS 


Clan 

formation 
subcon- 
scious 


of  self-esteem.  And  so  all  of  the  primitive  interests 
are  better  satisfied  by  the  social  grouping  of  the  clan, 
and  fit  it  better  to  survive  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
in  proportion  to  its  strength  and  efficiency.  Although 
it  is  unconsciously  brought  together  by  common 
parentage,  common  breeding  and  common  pursuits, 
it  is  none  the  less  man's  first  object  lesson  in  the 
economic  advantages  of  combination.  Being  a 
simple  aggregation  of  similar  parts,  it  tends  toward 
democratic  equality  and  decentralized  authority,  its 
territory  is  conditioned  by  the  boundaries  drawn 
about  by  human  enemies,  by  wild  beasts  and  reptiles, 
by  rivers,  mountains,  deserts  or  swamps.  It  must 
be  compact;  for  kin-feeling  is  killed  by  severance; 
and  its  size  is  limited  by  its  available  food  supply. 

The  competition  between  clan  groups  for  food  in 
seasons  of  scarcity,  and  the  aggressions  incident  to 
the  capture  of  women,  lead  to  reprisals,  aggres- 
sions and  rivalry,  which  excite  the  primary  instincts 
of  pugnacity  and  self-assertion  and  result  in  wars 
between  the  groups.  The  stronger  clans  will  best 
survive  such  conflicts,  and  the  fear  which  their 
prowess  excites  eventually  leads  to  a  conscious  com- 
bination or  consolidation  of  weaker  ones  for  self- 
defense.  And  thus  two  or  more  clans  are  welded  in 
the  greater  group  of  a  tribe,  held  together  by  effi- 
ciency in  war.  In  terms  of  chemistry  the  tribe  there- 
fore may  be  compared  to  a  compound  of  molecules 
whose  ingredients  are  kinship  groups,  each  of  which 
has  been  moulded  by  its  own  set  of  physical  and 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SOCIETY  15 

social  environments.  Each  clan  therefore  associated 
itself  in  the  tribe  with  other  clans  of  dissimilar  occu- 
pations and  habits,  and  the  process  developed  a 
testimony  of  experience  that  such  differences  are  not 
incompatible  with  social  union.  The  first  step  toward 
civilization,  which  is  a  condition  directly  propor- 
tioned to  the  development  of  differences  of  industrial 
function  between  the  members  of  a  group,  has  been 
taken.  As  it  grows,  the  greater  economic  efficiency 
of  a  division  of  labor  encourages  within  the  tribal 
structure  a  variety  of  industrial  groups:  of  its  clans, 
each  still  bound  by  the  kinship  tie,  one  will  be 
armorers  or  arrowsmiths ;  another,  farmers  produc-  Division  of 
ing  food;  a  third,  shepherds  raising  mutton  and  industry 
wool;  others,  perhaps,  workers  in  stone  for  shelter; 
in  iron  for  tools;  or  in  silver  for  adornment.  In  the 
tribal  organization  the  most  important  group  is 
naturally  that  which  cares  for  its  defense  against 
enemies,  which  centers  about  a  chief  or  war  leader, 
and  in  case  of  need  draws  upon  the  other  groups  for 
reinforcement.  The  great  need  of  the  tribal  organi- 
zation for  efficiency  in  war  gives  predominance  and 
leadership  to  the  war  group,  which  acquires  privi- 
leges as  rewards  for  its  service;  and  the  prevalence 
of  war  in  primitive  society  soon  makes  of  it  a  ruling 
class.  The  persistent  kinship  ideals  form  from  the  Rise  of  a 
war  group  an  hereditary  nobility,  proud  and  tena-  Nobility 
cious  of  their  privileges,  which  are  now  ascribed  to 
blood;  and  so  these  privileges  are  only  accessible  to 
other  persons  after  formal  adoption,  through  such 


16  TRADE  MORALS 

ceremonies  as  those  of  knighthood  or  investiture.  In 
the  tribe  the  pressure  of  outside  hostility  and  the 
need  of  effective  resistance  give  great  cohesiveness  to 
the  molecules  out  of  which  it  is  formed;  they  must 
hang  together  or  be  overcome  by  their  neighbors. 

We  have  now  passed  in  rapid  survey  the  growing 
applications  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution;  as  first,  an 
explanation  of  variation  in  living  beings;  next,  of  the 
origin  of  physical  elements;  and,  last,  of  change  and 
growth  in  man's  mental  and  emotional  structure. 
Ethics,  whose  subject-matter  is  right  and  wrong  con- 
duct, is  conditioned  by  the  existence  of  man,  a  mental 
and  emotional  being,  in  contact  with  his  fellows ;  it  is, 
therefore,  a  social  science.  And  so  to  understand 
the  structure  which  it  adorns  we  have  sketched 
society  from  its  sub-human  origins  to  man,  and  have 
seen  that  among  men  the  group  everywhere  prevails, 
progressing  from  simpler  to  more  complex  phases 
through  the  family  or  social  atom,  the  clan  or  social 
molecule,  to  the  social  compound  of  the  tribe,  and  in 
all  of  these  we  can  perceive  a  constant  sequence  of 
change  and  growth.  It  will  next  be  necessary  to 
examine  the  development  of  these  groups  into  a  yet 
more  complex  form — the  nation. 


II 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS 

Following  society  through  its  primitive  phases  of 
change  and  growth  we  have  found  that  from  the 
beginning  mankind  has  been  associated  into  groups; 
first  in  the  family,  a  group  of  persons;  next  in  the 
clan,  a  group  of  families;  and  thirdly  in  the  tribe,  a 
group  of  clans.  So  that  we  might  better  understand 
the  relations  between  the  types  we  have  applied  to 
them  the  physical  and  chemical  similitude  of  the 
atom,  the  molecule  and  the  compound,  to  which, 
roughly,  they  have  a  structural  resemblance. 

Since  from  now  on  we  shall  be  dealing  with  typical 
groups  of  ever  increasing  complexity,  it  will  be  con- 
venient to  express  by  a  single  word  the  prevailing 
type  of  greatest  group;  and  this  I  propose  to  do  by 
the  term  folkgroup,  so  as  to  designate  that  largest  The  Folk- 
number  of  men  who  at  any  given  time  feel  that  they  group 
are  held  together  for  the  satisfaction  of  their 
common  interest.  In  this  sense  clans  and  tribes  may 
be  folkgroups,  as  is  also  that  still  larger  and  more 
complex  social  type,  the  Nation.  Subordinate 
groups  can  then  be  readily  distinguished  from  the 
folkgroup;  either  collectively,  as  subgroups,  or  by 
prefixes  indicative  of  their  origin  or  function;  and 
without  much  circumlocution  or  any  confusion. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  typical  influence  making  for 


18 


TRADE  MORALS 


Coales- 
cence of 
tribal  into 
national 
groups 


Effect  on 
transporta- 
tion 


the  consolidation  of  clans  into  a  tribe  was  their  need 
for  greater  efficiency  in  war.  But  in  that  phase  of 
social  development  when  the  tribe  had  become  the 
prevailing  form  of  folkgroup,  the  constantly  grow- 
ing competition  and  pressure  exerted  by  other  hostile 
or  rival  tribes  furnished  further  coherent  forces, 
finally  determining  the  coalescence  of  a  number  of 
tribal  groups  into  the  still  greater  and  more  complex 
aggregation  of  a  nation;  whose  territory  is  generally 
determined  by  natural  boundaries;  great  rivers,  seas 
or  mountain  ranges,  forming  of  themselves  barriers 
and  bulwarks,  easily  defended  and  difficult  of  pas- 
sage to  a  hostile  force.  While  in  the  single-com- 
munity type  of  clan  life  the  need  of  transportation 
was  at  a  minimum,  a  tribe  is  obliged  to  live  dis- 
persedly,  and  for  the  concentration  of  its  defensive 
forces  its  communities  must  be  connected  by  paths  or 
primitive  roads,  and  the  deeper  streams  spanned  by 
temporary  bridges.  The  nation  is  in  need  of  the 
rapid  concentration  of  defensive  forces  over  a  much 
greater  territory;  its  ruler's  power  is  dependent  upon 
his  frequent  contact  and  that  of  his  lieutenants  with 
his  subjects;  added  to  this,  the  increasing  differentia- 
tion of  industrial  employment  calls  for  better  roads 
for  its  constant  interchange  of  specialized  products 
between  the  more  separated  subgroups.  So  that 
while  tribal  conflicts  tend  to  keep  roads  narrow, 
steep  and  bad  lest  approach  should  be  too  easy,  cen- 
tralized authority  combines  with  industrial  specializa- 
tion to  demand  the  substitution  of  wagon  roads  for 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  19 

horse  trails,  and  permanent  stone  instead  of  easily 
destroyed  wooden  bridges,  within  the  national 
domain. 

Because  of  its  size  and  its  ability  to  segregate  a 
professional  soldiery,  the  nation  folkgroup  is  bound  Soldiery 
together  by  less  imperative  ties  of  self-defense  than 
is  the  tribe;  the  need  and  occasion  of  aggression  are 
lessened  and  the  kinship  ideals  survive  only  as  a 
vague  tie  which  is  spoken  of  as  race.  Progressive 
division  of  labor  brings  into  existence  and  promotes  Industry 
the  multiplication  of  subgroups  unaccustomed  to 
warlike  exercises  and  engaged  in  occupations  requir- 
ing internal  order  for  their  successful  prosecution. 
The  chieftain,  controlling  an  armed  force  which  may 
as  well  be  used  to  suppress  civil  discord  as  to  repel 
invasion,  becomes  a  king,  upon  whose  functions  as  The  King 
a  war  lord  is  grafted  the  duty  of  enforcing  an  inter- 
tribal peace  within  his  boundaries.  And  so  the  grow- 
ing need  for  peace  takes  its  place  alongside  of  the 
waning  necessities  for  self-defense  in  cementing  the 
tribes  into  a  nation,  and  finally  supplants  them. 

While  a  tribe  is  a  folkgroup  composed  of  clan  Structural 
molecules  or  kinship  groups  each  of  which  is  some-  contrast 
what  different  from  the  other,  yet  its  basic  family  between 
atoms,  the  product  of  a  fairly  uniform  environment,  tr'bes  and 
are  typically  similar  or  homologous.     But  a  nation  natlons 
composed  of  a  number  of  tribes  forced  into  com- 
pound social  consolidation  by  the  industrial  neces- 
sities of  intertribal  peace  and  order,  is  sure  to  find 
within  its  broader  domain  subgroups  both  of  the  clan 


20 


TRADE  MORALS 


Reactions 
of  peace 
conditions 
upon 
industry 


and  family  type,  developed  some  in  one  direction, 
some  in  another,  by  dissimilar  climatic  and  physio- 
graphic conditions;  so  that  the  basic  elements  of  the 
nation  folkgroup  are  typically  diverse  rather  than 
similar.  Nations  are,  therefore,  a  much  more  com- 
plex type  of  social  compound  than  tribes.  To  con- 
tinue our  chemical  comparison,  we  may  perhaps  say 
that  the  nation  typifies  a  complex  organic  compound, 
while  the  tribe  may  be  considered  as  its  inorganic 
analogue;  industry  standing  in  the  social  compound 
for  the  carbon  whose  presence  in  an  organic  com- 
pound is  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  its  type. 
Internal  peace  conditions,  once  established  in  the 
nation  by  the  suppression  of  intertribal  conflict, 
react  upon  industry  and  give  new  impetus  to  its  exten- 
sion. Industry,  fostered  by  internal  order,  accumu- 
lates wealth,  and  this  reacts  upon  industry  itself 
through  the  growth  of  luxury, — new  wants  demand 
new  products  to  gratify  desires  for  greater  comfort 
in  living,  for  the  adornment  of  the  person, — wants 
which  are  the  logical  extension  of  the  primitive 
motives  of  hunger  and  love.  Fear  of  other  nations 
creates  a  demand  for  armaments,  and  fear  in  its 
expression  toward  the  Unseen  builds  and  decorates 
cathedrals,  churches  and  cloisters.  Thus,  increasing 
complexity  of  demand  for  commodities,  finding  its 
origin  in  the  four  great  basic  motives  of  Hunger, 
Love,  Vanity  and  Fear,  tends  toward  the  evolution 
of  more  highly  specialized  industrial  subgroups 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  21 

forming  themselves  out  of  the  existing  kinship 
subgroups.  At  first  it  appears  that  the  coherence  of 
each  industrial  subgroup  is  maintained  through  the 
kinship  tie,  and  the  workers  of  an  industry  may  be 
drawn  only  from  a  clan  or  caste.  But  the  kinship  Clan 
tie  gradually  weakens  as  the  economic  tie,  the  cohe-  groups  in 
rent  force  of  a  group  of  workers  in  a  common  indus-  industry 
try,  increases,  and  so  the  industrial  groups  tend  to 
grow  rapidly  and  outside  of  kinship  lines  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  increase  of  facilities  for  intercommunica- 
tion. Industrial  wealth  vies  with  war  leadership  in 
indulging  the  increasing  sense  of  personal  distinc- 
tion— the  outgrowth  of  vanity,  following  the 
example  progressively  set  by  the  tribal  chieftains, 
lords,  barons,  earls,  counts,  marquises,  dukes  and 
princes.  By  degrees  wealthy  industrial  leaders 
acquire  a  part  of  the  political  power  formerly  pos- 
sessed by  the  war  lords  and  eventually  the  nobility 
are  ousted  from  the  control  of  the  State. 

The  atoms  composing  industrial  subgroups  finally 
forget  their  kinship  ideals  and  associate  with  other 
subgroups,  either  along  sentimental  or  political  lines, 
or  in  accordance  with  industrial  changes  brought 
about  by  progress  in  the  sciences  or  the  arts.  The 
head  of  a  family  may  thus  be  a  member  of  several 
subgroups.  For  instance,  under  present-day  condi- 
tions, in  addition  to  his  trade  group  a  plasterer  may 
be  a  Republican  in  politics  and  a  Presbyterian  in 
religion;  other  plasterers  may  be  Socialists  or  Free- 
thinkers, and  other  Republicans  may  be  stock- 


22  TRADE  MORALS 

brokers  or  Roman  Catholics.     In  the  more  stable 
inorganic  stage  of  simple  social  combinations  like 
that  of  the  tribe  it  would  not  be  deemed  possible  for 
these  atoms  ever  to  forget  their  allegiance  to  their 
clan,  to  be  disloyal  to  their  chief  or  impious  to  their 
Decay  of      God.    But  in  the  modern  state  the  ancient  kinship  ties 
the  kinship    have  lost  their  power,  and  men  who  have  mentally 
group  or  economically  outgrown  the  conditions  of  the  sub- 

group to  which  they  have  been  born  or  educated,  are 
continually  breaking  through  its  boundaries  and  join- 
ing industrial  or  intellectual  classes  other  than  those 
with  which  they  were  formerly  affiliated. 

The  more  highly  organized  social  compounds  are, 
therefore,  like  their  chemical  analogues,  unstable  in 
association;  their  subgroups,  no  longer  compact  but 
diffused  over  a  large  extent  of  territory,  interpene- 
trate each  other.  The  social  atoms  may  be  com- 
pelled by  social  or  economic  pressure  to  break  away 
from  one  or  more  of  their  subgroups  and  recombine 
with  others.  Our  Presbyterian-Republican-plasterer 
may  be  compelled  to  become  a  farmer  or  a  motor- 
man  by  an  oversupply  of  labor  in  the  building  trades; 
he  may  join  the  Democrats  in  opposing  a  protective 
tariff;  and  he  may  become  a  convert  to  Christian 
Science. 

The  sentiment  of  common  descent,  which  cements 
atomic  family  groups  into  molecular  kinship  groups 
in  primitive  society,  weakens  with  the  decay  of  the 
clan.  With  the  substitution  of  economic  for  kinship 
ties  in  the  subgroups  of  which  national  folkgroups 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  23 

are  compounded  there  is  a  tendency,  illustrated  by 
the  lengthening  of  the  celibate  period,  and  by  the 
increase  of  divorce,  for  the  atoms  themselves  to  dis- 
integrate. The  growth  of  individualism,  one  of  Individual- 
whose  manifestations  is  the  spread  of  liberty  in  ism 
modern  times,  may  be  looked  upon  as  an  expression 
of  the  universal  centrifugal  or  radiant  forces  of 
Nature,  and  while  deplored  by  many  as  a  menace  to 
social  well-being  is  nevertheless  always  to  be 
reckoned  with.  It  will  be  noticed  in  all  of  the  cog- 
nate relations  of  conduct,  both  moral  and  industrial, 
in  the  later  chapters  of  this  essay. 

Society  in  its  evolution,  therefore,  progresses  with 
its  family  atoms  through  the  various  molecular  and 
compound  folkgroup-structures  of  the  clan,  the  tribe 
and  the  nation  from  savagery  to  civilization.    These 
changes  of  structure  are  caused  by  the  efforts  of  the 
folkgroup  to  protect  itself  from  the  forces  of  famine, 
war  and  industrial  rivalry  by  which  its  integrity  is 
continually  threatened.     As  the  folkgroup   reaches 
its  higher  stages  of  development  the  first  two  of  these  Forces  of 
forces  are  diminishing,  while  the  latter  is  increasing  social 
in  power.     The  rise  of  subgroups  of  the  industrial  evolution 
type  and  their  gradual  substitution  for  those  of  the 
kinship  type  are,  therefore,  leading  characteristics 
of  civilization. 

But  modern  society  is  more  than  an  aggregation  of 
groups  held  together  by  definite  attractive  forces; 
they  and  it  are  bound  together  in  a  net  of  inter- 
dependent relationships  which  suggest  an  organism. 


24 


TRADE  MORALS 


and  Social 
structure 


Affinities  of  It  is  true  that  biological  as  well  as  physical  or 
Biological  chemical  analogies  help  us  better  to  understand  the 
interrelations  of  the  subgroups  in  which  men  and 
women  are  always  joined  together,  as  well  as  their 
relations  to  the  more  highly  organized  social  struc- 
tures of  the  folkgroups  of  which  they  are  a  part;  and 
that  the  lessons  of  anatomy  and  physiology  are  help- 
ful in  interpreting  the  sequential  order  and  laws  of 
growth,  which  are  disclosed  by  the  Science  of  Society. 
Note,  for  example,  the  similarity  of  the  sociological 
family  to  the  cell  which  is  the  unit  of  biological 
structure.  Each  has  functions  of  assimilation, 
growth  and  reproduction.  It  is  in  the  type  of 
grouping  in  either  instance  that  its  phase  of  progress 
is  expressed;  and  from  such  group  types,  become 
subgroups,  are  constructed  compound  groups  or 
organisms  by  which  functions  other  than  those  pos- 
sible to  its  units  are  successfully  assumed,  and 
obstacles  surmounted  by  which  the  unit  would  have 
been  impounded.  Clans  have  their  analogues  in  the 
simpler  multicellular  animal  organisms  composed  of 
cells  almost  alike,  subsisting  on  the  food  in  their 
immediate  neighborhood.  In  either  instance  any  of 
the  units  may  be  indifferently  replaced  so  far  as  its 
function  goes  by  any  other  unit  of  the  community. 
And  so,  through  the  slowly  growing  complexity  of 
the  invertebrates,  or  of  the  tribal  system  in  which, 
through  the  segregation  of  subgroups  of  cells,  or 
subgroups  of  families,  as  the  case  may  be,  simple 
organs  are  by  degrees  formed  for  the  performance 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  25 

of  special  functions.    Arrangements  for  self-defense  Evolution 
and  for  organized  pursuit  of  food  are  in  either  case  of 
characteristic    acquisitions    of    this    period.      And,   functional 
finally,  in  the  more  highly  developed  national  groups  orgamza- 
and  vertebrate  animals  we  find  that  organization  of 
highly   specialized   and   dissimilar   subgroups,    each 
composed  of  relatively  similar  cells  or  families,  all 
of  which  are  interconnected,   and  dependent  upon 
each  other  as  well  as  on  the  whole. 

For  in  society,  as  in  the  living  body,  differentiation 
and  division  of  labor  are  the  results  of  progressive 
evolution.     As  the  division  of  labor  becomes  more  Division  of 
complete,    family   atoms   combined  into   specialized  labor 
industrial  subgroups  lose  by  degrees  their  relative 
capacity  for  existence  independent  of  the  folkgroup. 
Industrial  subgroups  in  our  cities  are  so  dependent 
upon  the  transportation  subgroup,  for  example,  that 
a  famine  would  result  if  railway  connections  were 
cut  off  for  a  week.    They  are  so  dependent  upon  the 
water  supply  subgroup  that  they  would  be  obliged  to 
emigrate  in  two  days  if  their  facilities  in  this  direc- 
tion were  cut  off.     In  severe  weather  many  habita- 
tions would  be  wrecked  if  the  plumber  subgroup   Organic 
were  to  go  on  strike.     Some  foreign  cities  have  had  nature  of 
experience  of  the  inconvenience,  if  not  of  the  distress,   industrial 
caused  by  a  refusal  of  the  baking  subgroup  to  per-  grouPs 
form  its  functions.    And  what  disorder  and  destruc- 
tion have  always  followed  any  interruption  in  the 
service  of  the  police,  such  as  is  produced  by  an  earth- 
quake or  other  overwhelming  catastrophe.    Like  the 


26 


TRADE  MORALS 


Depend- 
ency on 
Institutional 
organiza- 
tion 


Functional 
diseases  of 
the  social 
organism 


animal  body  the  nation  is  a  union  of  parts,  special- 
ized and  dissimilar  in  function,  each  composed  of 
relatively  similar  elements  interconnected  and  de- 
pendent upon  each  other  and  upon  the  whole.  The 
subgroups  within  the  national  folkgroup  grow  to  be 
dependent  upon  other  groups  constituted  by  its 
governing  authorities  to  perform  certain  functions 
essential  to  its  integrity,  such  as  armies,  navies, 
courts  of  law,  post  offices  and  the  like.  Economic 
subgroups,  banks,  exchanges,  merchants,  etc.,  are  so 
necessary  that  city  subgroups  would  suffer  hardship 
and  loss,  and  perhaps  be  obliged  to  disintegrate,  if 
the  prompt  exchange  of  products,  which  they  effect, 
were  seriously  impeded. 

This  interdependence  of  subgroups  upon  other 
subgroups  and  of  all  on  the  folkgroup  has  a  close 
likeness  to  the  interdependence  of  functional  organs 
in  the  human  body,  in  that  their  uninterrupted  opera- 
tion, like  that  of  the  heart,  the  brain  or  the  stomach 
in  the  body,  is  essential  to  the  existence  of  the 
prevailing  type  of  folkgroup,  and  without  them 
civilization  would  speedily  retrograde.  Between  all 
of  the  subgroups  there  is  constant  action  and  inter- 
action, and  a  disruptive  force  applied  to  one  of 
them,  as  to  the  motormen,  or  the  butchers,  or  the 
firemen,  will  affect  all  of  the  others  in  the  same  way 
that  a  piece  of  infected  food  taken  into  the  human 
stomach  will  set  up  a  typhoid,  a  dysentery  or  a 
ptomaine  poisoning,  which  may  easily  overwork  the 
secretions,  paralyze  the  motor  centers,  irritate  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  27 

heart,  accelerate  the  respiration  and  possibly  end  in 
complete  collapse.     And  so,  like  those  of  the  body, 
social  diseases  originating  in  one  subgroup  affect  the 
entire  social  constitution,  giving  pathological  as  well 
as   physical   symptoms   to   enrich   the   analogies   by 
which  the  origin  and  function  of  the  social  bodies 
may  be  better  understood.    Is  there  a  reality  behind 
these  analogies?     Is  society,  or  are  societies,  struc-  Is  there 
turally  as  well  as  comparatively  organic?     It  may  identity  in 
well  be  that  some  higher  conception  will  eventually  be  tnese 
formed  that  may  stand  to  the  organic  world  in  the  analogies- 
same  relation  that  the  organic  stands  to  the  physical 
and  that  through  such  a  superorganic  conception  we 
shall  more  completely  understand  the   social.     Or 
we  may  find  that  after  all  the  folkgroup  is  only  a  big 
animal,  a  leviathan,1  to  whose  body  we  can  apply  the 
laws  of  biological  formation  and  growth.    Our  pres- 
ent imperfect  knowledge  need  make  no  answer  to 
these    important    questions,    which    may    well    be 
referred  to  our  successors  for  determination. 

The   process  by  which  the   more   complex   folk-  The  Social 
groups  are  evolved  from  the  simpler  compounds  of  process 
the  clan  is  by  almost  imperceptible  change,  continu- 
ally adjusting  them  with  slight  changes  in  their  en- 
vironment.     Folkgroup   environment   is   duplex;    it 
consists  first  of  out-conditions;  climatic  and  physio- 
graphic, floral,  faunal  and  heterethnic;2  and  second, 

1  Hobbes   (1651)   "the  multitude  so  united  in  one  person  *  *  *  * 
called  a  commonwealth." 

2  That  is,  of  outgroups  of  people. 


28 


TRADE  MORALS 


Folkgroup 
types  or 
social 
phases 


The  Clan 
a  kinship 
group 


of  the  reactions  of  in-conditions  or  folk  forces;  i.e., 
those  within  the  folkgroup  which  manifest  them- 
selves in  habits,  usages  and  customs;  and  adjust  the 
way  of  life  of  the  folk  to  emotional,  political  or  eco- 
nomical conditions,  which  have  been  formed  among 
the  subgroups  as  reactions  from  the  out-conditions 
which  form  their  direct  environment.  Of  these  latter 
forces  we  shall  hear  further  in  succeeding  lectures. 
In  our  sketch  of  the  method  and  content  of  social 
evolution  we  have  now  seen  that  from  the  family, 
the  unit  group  of  all  social  combinations,  held 
together  by  the  instinct  of  reproduction,  have  suc- 
cessively arisen  three  fairly  distinct  phases  or  types 
of  compound  societies  which  we  have  chosen  to  call 
folkgroups,  each  of  which  has  at  a  given  time  and 
place  been  the  prevailing  type  of  human  associa- 
tion. Each  phase  is  broadly  characterized  by  the 
predominance  of  a  distinctive  arrangement,  into 
which  its  families  are  cast,  and  by  the  predomi- 
nance in  each  of  a  certain  coherent  force,  by 
which  the  type  is  distinguished.  Earliest  in  the 
sequence  of  folkgroups  is  the  clan;  which  in  struc- 
ture is,  like  the  chemical  molecule,  an  assemblage  of 
similar  atoms;  or  like  many  multicellular  protozoans, 
parazoans  or  enterocoelans,  a  colony  of  undifferen- 
tiated  unicellular  units.  The  coherent  force  by  which 
it  is  held  together  is  the  next  strongest  to  that  of 
reproduction — the  sentiment  of  common  descent. 
The  clan  folkgroup  is  stable,  enduring,  difficult  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  29 

decomposition,  slow  to  enter  into  combination  with  The  Tribe 
other  molecules;  conservatism  personified.  a  war 

In  the  second  social  phase  the  clans  have  become  SrouP 
subgroups  of  a  more  complex  folkgroup,  the  tribe; 
and  thereby  men  of  one  kin  have  been  brought  into 
friendly  social  relations  with  men  of  other  kin. 
From  the  biological  standpoint,  the  tribe  may  com- 
pare with  many  of  the  forms  of  multicellular 
organisms  between  the  coelenterates  and  vetebrates, 
and  especially  with  those  whose  similar  segments, 
distinguished  by  rudimentary  functional  differences, 
are  arranged  bilaterally,  longitudinally  or  radiately 
with  reference  to  a  common  axis  or  center.  In 
structure,  tribes  are  more  diverse  in  type  and  in 
differentiation  of  function  than  the  folkgroups  below 
them,  being  nature's  experiments3  on  the  way  to  the 
evolution  of  the  family  unit  into  a  nation.  In  the 
tribe  diverse  social  molecules  are  combined  into  a 
social  compound,  just  as  the  elements  in  their  molecu- 
lar proportions  go  together  to  make  a  chemical 
compound. 

The  tribe  is  a  folkgroup  uniting  previously  exist-  Efficiency 
ing  folkgroups  for  common  defense  and  aggression  in  war  its 
against  other  folkgroups.     Efficiency  in  war  seems  coherent 
to  be  the  coherent  force  that  compels  this  combina-  *orce 
tion  and  holds  it  in  durable  compacts;  and  yet  their 
units  at  first  recognize  a  higher  loyalty  to  kin  than  to 
their  fellow  tribesmen  and  the  tribal  compound  is  less 

8  This  has  an  anthropomorphic  ring  which  I  did  not  intend;  but 
as  it  is  a  fairly  good  simile  I  will  let  it  stand. 


30 


TRADE  MORALS 


The 

Nation  a 

peace 

group 


Character- 
ized by 
Trade 


stable  than  the  clan  molecule — just  as  inorganic 
compounds  are  less  stable  than  the  molecular  bases 
and  acids  of  which  they  are  composed. 

In  the  third  social  phase  the  necessities  of  peace 
predominate.  Industrial  efficiency  takes  the  place 
of  war  as  the  agent  determining  the  coherence  and 
combinations  of  atoms  into  molecular  groups. 
Friendly  feeling  is  protracted  beyond  the  limits  of 
kinship  groups  to  much  larger,  much  more  complex 
combinations  of  dissimilar  social  molecules,  which, 
owing  to  the  comparative  ease  with  which  they  may 
be  decomposed  and  recombined,  present  many  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  organic  chemical  compound. 
Trade  is  the  carbon  which  differentiates  the  organic 
national  from  the  inorganic  kinship  folkgroup.  The 
nation  is  a  great  folkgroup  pacifying  and  amalga- 
mating the  lesser  kinship  war  groups  of  preceding 
periods,  whose  adverse  interests  had  formerly  made 
them  antagonistic  one  to  the  other.  In  the  nation 
the  clan  dissolves,  and  the  atoms  recombine  into 
other  molecular  groups  of  an  industrial  type  in 
which  the  coherent  force  of  a  common  economic 
interest  takes  the  place  of  interest  in  a  common 
ancestor. 

Biologically,  the  nation  is  like  an  organism  of  the 
vertebrate  type  in  that  each  of  its  constituent  indus- 
trial subgroups  performs  a  specialized  function,  and 
is  interdependent  upon  other  subgroups,  with  which 
it  is  compounded.  In  it  the  family  or  social  unit 
cell  may  be  and  generally  is  affiliated  with  sev- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NATIONS  31 

eral  subgroups,  reacting  to  their  influence  alternately 
with  continually  lessened  resistance  to  changes, 
whether  these  arise  within  or  without  the  subgroups. 
While  a  folkgroup  of  the  lower  order  and  organiza- 
tion, like  the  clan,  well  resists  many  disruptive  influ- 
ences and  is  static  rather  than  progressive,  the  nation 
folkgroups  are  dynamic  and  progressive  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  complexity  of  their  structure.  Modern 
nations  are,  therefore,  in  a  state  of  continual  flux  and 
change,  and  in  progress  along  evolutionary  lines  at  a 
rate  directly  proportioned  to  the  product  of  their 
subgroup  complexity  with  the  rapidity  of  environ- 
mental change. 

We  have  now  learned: 

I.  That  Ethics  is  the  science  of  right  and  wrong 
human  conduct  as  manifested  toward  others. 

II.  That  conduct  toward  others  exists  only  in 
a  society,  whose  roots  and  first  development   are 
found  in  zoological  groups  antedating  the  evolution 
of  man. 

III.  That  men  in  Society  are  drawn  together  in 
groups;  that  of  these  a  Folkgroup  is  the  largest 
which  at  any  given  time  or  place  is  united  by  a  senti- 
ment of  common  interest,  and  whether  Clan,  Tribe 
or  Nation,  is  evolved  and  survives  because  of  its 
efficiency   at   that   time   in   promoting  the   common 
interest;  eventually  giving  way  to  a  more  efficient 
type. 

IV.  That  in  evolution  the  Folkgroup  progresses 
toward   a  more  complex  type;   composed  of   sub- 


32  TRADE  MORALS 

groups  growing  constantly  more  interdependent,  and 
more  dependent  upon  the  Folkgroup. 

V.  Society  in  all  its  phases  is  in  motion  rather 
than  standing  still;  its  line  of  progress  being  deter- 
mined by  the  resultant  obtained  from  the  interaction 
of  a  constantly  changing  outer  environment  and  of 
the  folk  forces  within  the  group. 


Ill 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT 

In    the    evolution    of    society,    which    is    always  Review  of 
organized  into  groups,  there  is  a  constant  change  and  Social 
growth  in  their  structure  in  the  course  of  evolution  Evolution 
from  savagery  to  civilization. 

The  fundamental,  theoretically  indivisible,  group 
is  the  family,  held  together  by  the  reproductive  and 
parental  instincts. 

Through  the  feeling  of  descent  from  a  common 
ancestor,  out  of  a  number  of  families  is  compounded 
the  clan,  a  folkgroup  bound  together  by  kinship  ties. 

Heterethnic  aggression  compels  a  number  of 
clans  to  consolidate  into  the  folkgroup  of  a  tribe  for 
self-defense  and  self-assertion.  Efficiency  in  war  is 
the  tribal  bond.  Some  of  its  clans  may  begin  to 
perform  industrial  functions. 

Nations  are  folkgroups  which  are  compounds  of 
clans  and  tribes  after  industrial  development  has  so 
far  progressed  as  to  make  clear  the  need  for  a  wider 
internal  peace.  Efficiency  in  peace  is  the  national 
bond. 

There  is  a  general  similitude  between  the  physical 
constitution  of  matter  and  the  constitution  of  social 
groups;  families  being  akin  to  atoms,  clans  to  mole- 


34 


TRADE  MORALS 


cules,  tribes  to  inorganic  compounds,  and  nations, 

more  feebly  coherent,  to  the  organic  compounds  of 

chemistry.      And    biologically    there    is    a    similar 

resemblance  between  families  and  cells,   clans  and 

simple  multicellular  organisms,  tribes  and  the  lower 

forms  of  animal  life,  nations  and  the  vertebrates. 

Behavior,  a       Physiological  and  psychological  studies  show  us 

type  of  sub-  that  some  modes  of  common  human  activity  are  not 

conscious      conduct,  because  they  are  either  involuntary  or  else 

action  not  consciously  adapted  to  ends.    Uniform  behavior 

they  are,  however,  and  therefore  may  be  classified. 

In  the  first  of  these  modes,  human  action  is  the 
direct  outcome  of  physical  and  chemical  activity,  the 
effect  of  which  upon  the  body  is  the  same  that  it 
would  have  upon  any  other  mass  of  matter  of  a 
Tropisms  similar  physical  or  chemical  constitution.  Tropisms, 
as  they  are  termed  by  biologists,  the  simplest  and 
most  primitive  of  all  modes  of  action,  are  the 
direct  reactions  of  organisms  to  their  environment. 
They  characterize  all  life,  and  are  the  typical  be- 
havior modes  of  its  lowest  order.  In  them  are 
included  internal  bodily  processes  such  as  digestion 
or  secretion,  in  so  far  as  they  are  the  result  of  chemi- 
cal reactions;  and  also  the  acts  directly  occasioned  by 
the  physical  forces  of  nature,  such  as  gravity,  heat, 
light,  electricity,  and  the  movement  of  wind  and 
water.  Normally  we  are  unconscious  of  these  re- 
actions, whose  incidence  extends  over  all  material 
objects,  inanimate  or  animate.  This  lowest  mode 
of  behavior  is  typical  of  the  pre-ganglionic  orders  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          35 

nervous  life;  the  subkingdoms  below  the  arthropods, 
and  is  the  foundation  upon  which  all  higher  modes 
of  activity  are  built. 

A  second  mode  is  that  shown  in  the  nervous 
reflexes;  involuntary  acts  common  to  the  post-gan- 
glionic  orders  of  animate  nature,  and  in  man  pro- 
duced by  any  irritation  or  excitation,  through  the 
afferent  nerves,  of  the  ganglia  or  nervous  centers  of  Reflexes 
the  body.  The  modes  of  nervous  action,  taken 
together  with  tropisms,  enable  us  to  complete  the 
functions  of  secretion  and  digestion;  excite  sneezing 
when  an  irritating  substance  has  been  inbreathed,  or 
winking  when  our  eye  is  threatened  with  a  blow,  or 
weeping  when  an  insect  blows  into  it.  In  all  of  the 
reflex  acts  there  is  a  reaction  between  matter  and 
nervous  constitution.  To  carry  out  our  system  of 
classification  we  might  say  that  our  reflex  actions  are 
tropisms  co-ordinated  by  the  ganglionic  centers. 
Reflex  modes  of  action  are  common  to  all  animal  life 
except  the  lower  orders  of  invertebrates,  are  uniform 
in  any  given  race  or  breed;  they  are  unconsidered, 
unconsciously  performed,  although  we  may  subse- 
quently be  aware  of  their  effects. 

The  third  mode  of  uniform  behavior  is  the  result 
of  instinct,  a  higher  grade  of  activity  than  that  of 
reflexes,  and,  common  to  all  the  higher  animals,  is  Instincts 
especially  noticeable  in  those  whose  nervous  ganglia 
have  become  co-ordinated  through  the  development 
of  one  chief  ganglion  into  a  brain.  Instinct  appears 
to  be  a  form  of  impulse  derived  from  the  primordial 


36  TRADE  MORALS 

tissues  of  experience  of  the  race;  a  composite  picture 
of  what  behavior  has  resulted  in  its  well-being  and 
preservation  and  therefore  has  been  so  impressed 
upon  its  nervous  system  as  to  be  transmitted  with  it 
by  inheritance  from  one  generation  to  another.  The 
emotions  aroused  by  the  instincts  of  animals  are 
expressed  therefore  by  automatic  actions,  as,  for 
instance,  in  dogs  by  wagging  the  tail,  by  growling, 
by  howling  and  by  fawning.  They  turn  about  before 
lying  down  to  sleep,  they  bury  a  surplus  of  their  food 
supply,  they  carry  their  puppies  by  the  scruff  of  the 
neck.  The  cause  of  animal  instinct  is  the  pressure  of 
natural  environment,  the  habitual  modes  of  action 
being  those  that  have  better  fitted  their  original 
possessors  to  survive  and  propagate;  while  those  in 
whom  they  are  wanting  have  more  easily  succumbed 
to  their  enemies  or  to  other  adverse  forces.  They 
can  neither  be  eradicated  from  the  mental  constitu- 
Instincts  in  tion,  of  which  they  are  innate  elements,  nor  acquired 
Man  by  individuals  in  the  course  of  their  lifetimes.  A 

number  of  instincts  persist  through  the  range  of  the 
upper  mammals  and  form  the  foundation,  as  it  were, 
of  a  superstructure  of  conscious  conduct  which  is 
built  upon  them  by  man.  Such  are  those  known  to 
psychologists  as  the  primary  instincts  of  flight,  repul- 
sion, curiosity,  pugnacity,  self-abasement  and  self- 
assertion,  reproduction,  acquisition,  construction 
and  the  parental  and  gregarious  instincts,  all  of 
which  are  the  birthrights  of  our  race  by  virtue  of 
its  descent  from  the  beasts. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          37 

There  are,  therefore,  three  distinct  modes  of 
uniform  action  or  behavior  which  mankind  shares 
with  all  life  below;  jtropisms,  the  direct  reactions  Natureways 
of  the  organisms  to  external  forces,  typical  of  the 
lower  invertebrates;  reflexes,  the  responses  of  the 
subconscious  nervous  system  to  the  stimulus  of  such 
reactions,  typical  of  the  higher  invertebrates;  and 
instinctive,  the  co-ordination  of  reflexes  by  the  brain, 
typical  of  the  vertebrates.  The  distinguishing  fea- 
ture of  all  of  the  acts  so  directed  is  that  in  them  the 
actor  is  unconscious  of  the  purpose  of  his  act — he  is 
behaving  involuntarily  and  naturally.  And  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  these  three  behavior  phases 
distinct  from  a  higher  series  I  propose  to  call  them 
Natureways. 

Anthropological    research    has    demonstrated    a 
similar  evolution  of  uniform  modes  of  conduct,  by 
which  life  in   any  given  social  group   is   regulated 
through  the  manners,  customs,  usages,  habits  or  laws   Conduct, 
prevalent  therein.  an  acquired 

A  consideration  of  human  conduct  makes  it 
apparent  that  in  addition  to  the  natureways  we  have 
a  common  mode  of  action  which  governs  the  vast 
preponderance  of  all  our  volitional  acts,  which  like 
those  of  an  instinctive  origin  are  unconsidered, 
almost  involuntary;  being  decided  for  us  long  in 
advance  of  their  performance.  Unlike  natureways 
this  mode  is  not  born  in  us,  but  is  acquired  from 
imitation  of  others,  or  from  well-established  habits 
learned  from  our  elders  and  associates.  We  rarely 


38  TRADE  MORALS 

question  these  acts;  in  fact,  we  are  in  large  measure 
unaware  of  their  existence,  and  not  having  con- 
sciously observed  them  have  never  considered  their 
why  or  wherefore.  How  many  of  us  have  seriously 
wondered  why  we  get  up  in  the  morning,  and  not  at 
noon  or  night,  why  we  wash,  dress,  shoe  our  feet 
with  leather  and  proceed  to  eat  breakfast  ?  We  pass 
through  the  day  doing  a  large  number  of  acts  of 
which  we  are  very  imperfectly  conscious,  but  which 
we  could  change  if  we  had  any  desire  to  do  so.  Why 
do  we  put  on  underclothes  and  then  cover  them  care- 
fully so  that  no  one  shall  see  them,  and  why  do  we 
Folkways  never  think  of  going  into  the  street  in  them,  except 
in  a  nightmare?  Why  do  our  men  cover  their  legs 
with  trousers,  and  not  with  a  petticoat?  In  Turkey 
men  wear  skirts  and  the  women  trousers.  Why,  in 
fact,  do  we  cover  ourselves  at  all,  especially  in  hot 
weather?  Why  do  we  feel  compelled,  at  a  public 
breakfast  table,  to  refrain  from  sitting  down  in  our 
shirt  sleeves;  to  eat  with  a  knife  and  fork  instead  of 
with  our  fingers,  or  to  drink  a  hot  drink  from  a  cup 
or  bowl  and  a  cold  one  from  a  glass?  Imagine  the 
confusion  which  would  result  if  for  points  like  these 
there  were  no  settled  convention,  which,  carried 
through  a  single  day,  guides  our  conduct  in  uncounted 
thousands  of  ways.  What  would  happen  had  we  to 
exercise  a  conscious  choice  on  all  such  points,  and  on 
all  occasions?  Probably  we  should  be  finishing 
breakfast  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  thoroughly 
exhausted,  and  in  such  a  frame  of  mind  that  we 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          39 

could  hardly  determine  whether  to  sit  down  to 
luncheon  or  go  to  bed.  Our  conduct  in  all  these 
matters  is  fortunately  predetermined  for  us  by 
habits,  sentiments  and  methods  of  thought,  which, 
when  we  begin  consciously  to  observe  them,  we  find 
we  have  acquired  in  common  with  all  the  members 
of  our  group.  They  are  the  basis  of  economies 
in  the  use  of  our  time  which  permit  us  as  group 
members  to  do  something  besides  those  acts  by  which 
we  perform  the  most  necessary  functions  of  life. 
Called  by  Sumner  folkways,  few  words  have  ever 
been  devised  that  so  well  illuminate  their  own 
meaning. 

The  folkways,  however,  could  not  have  been  Origin  of 
acquired  had  it  not  been  for  the  primeval  group,  the  folkways 
family.  In  it  the  mother  teaches  her  child  its 
habitual  modes  of  action  at  so  youthful  an  age  that 
it  forgets  that  it  has  ever  learned  them.  Thus  origi- 
nated, folkways  are  promoted  and  extended  as  the 
family  is  merged  into  the  clan  or  kinship  group,  and 
the  child  unconsciously  imitates  the  manners  and 
habits  of  its  seniors  as  they  are  brought  to  its 
observation.  The  members  of  the  clan  esteem  those 
who  have  ways  of  acting  similar  to  theirs;  they  un- 
consciously dislike  others  who  have  dissimilar  ways; 
and  the  forces  of  approbation  and  reprobation  thus 
exerted  by  the  group  are  brought  to  bear  through 
psychical  suggestion  upon  the  susceptible,  eagerly 
absorbing  minds  of  the  children.  It  is  obvious  that 
if  there  were  no  social  life  there  would  be  few  folk- 


40  TRADE  MORALS 

ways;  or  rather  each  would  be  obliged  to  form 
his  own  habits  with  a  terrible  waste  of  time  and 
energy.  Certain  folkways  are  common  to  all 
peoples;  a  larger  number  prevail  within  the  nation; 
more  still  are  considered  as  binding  upon  subgroups 
like  those  of  fashionable  society,  or  on  industrial 
subgroups  such  as  farmers,  or  blacksmiths;  but  the 
largest  number  of  common  habits  are  found  among 
the  members  of  the  unit  group — the  family.  In  any 
given  state  of  civilization  the  prevalence  and  obliga- 
tion of  the  folkways  are  therefore  in  inverse  ratio  to 
the  size  of  the  group.  The  folkways  are  not  the 
same  in  different  places;  not  alike  in  the  same  place 
at  different  times,  nor  as  between  different  subgroups 
of  the  same  folkgroup. 

Uncon-  Folkways    are    unconsidered,    habitual,    uniform 

sidered  modes  of  action  or  customs  practiced  by  men  under 
group  conditions  and  are  the  result  of  efforts  to 
satisfy  interests  arising  out  of  the  four  great  primary 
motives,  Hunger,  Love,  Vanity  and  Fear.  Folk- 
ways are  built  upon  the  foundation  of  natureways, 
but  differ  from  them  in  that  through  imitation  and 
education  they  are  acquired  in  the  family-  and  folk- 
groups.  By  origin  they  are  therefore  nurtural  rather 
than  natural,  and  are  the  first  term  of  a  new  series 
of  conduct  modes;  whose  characteristic  is  that  they 
are  not  inherited  but  taught.  This  series  may  be 
referred  to  properly  as  Nurtureways. 

Folkways  are  therefore  nurtureways  intelligently 
taught  but  irrationally  practiced  by  man,  and  even 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          41 

in  a  rudimentary  way  shared  by  some  of  his  higher 
animal  associates.  They  might  almost  be  described 
as  acquired  instincts.  An  illustration  of  their  per- 
sistency is  afforded  by  the  ineffectual  efforts  of 
Peter  the  Great  to  force  the  Russians  to  shave  off 
their  beards;  they,  however,  preferring  to  submit  to 
any  form  of  punishment  rather  than  yield. 

An  interesting  instance  is  found  in  the  custom  of  Kissing  a 
kissing,  which  counts  for  a  great  deal  in  our  folk-  folkway 
ways.  It  is  regarded  with  disgust  by  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  it  is  unknown  to  the  Polynesians,  the  Afri- 
cans or  the  South  Americans.  On  the  other  hand  the 
males  of  the  Latin  races  publicly  osculate  each  other 
more  liberally  and  ostentatiously  than  our  own  wives 
or  sweethearts.  In  Europe,  and  even  in  sober  Eng- 
land during  and  just  after  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
custom  was  far  more  extended  than  it  is  anywhere  Its 
today.  The  learned  Erasmus,  who  came  to  lecture  prevalence 
at  Oxford  University  in  1499,  and  who  visited  in 
many  of  the  great  houses  of  the  day,  was  amazed  at 
the  freedom  of  the  English  ladies,  whom  he  de- 
scribed as  "divinely  pretty  and  too  good  natured." 
"They  have,"  he  wrote,  "an  excellent  custom  among 
them,  that  wherever  you  go  the  girls  kiss  you.  They 
kiss  you  when  you  come,  they  kiss  you  when  you  go, 
they  kiss  you  at  intervening  opportunities;  and  their 
lips  are  soft,  warm  and  delicious."  These  ladies 
evidently  kissed  the  professor  in  sublime  uncon- 
sciousness of  the  fact  that  their  delightful  custom 
was  not  a  part  of  the  folkways  in  which  he  had  been 


42 


TRADE  MORALS 


Discussion 
of  it 


Its  decline 


Folk- 
customs  or 
mores 


brought  up,  or  that  he  might  find  anything  in  the 
practice  to  disturb  his  philosophic  calm.  During  the 
next  two  centuries,  however,  doubts  seem  to  have 
arisen  as  to  the  expediency  of  so  free  a  use  of  this 
form  of  salutation.  It  became  the  subject  of  wide- 
spread discussion.  It  is  popularly  supposed  to  have 
been  ostracised  by  that  phase  of  the  reformed  reli- 
gion which  we  call  Puritanism.  The  kissing  games, 
which  were  once  played  by  adults,  have  by  custom 
become  restricted  to  young  children.  Among  the 
educated  groups  the  notion  has  gradually  spread 
that  indiscriminate  kissing  is  contrary  to  social 
welfare  and  that  it  should  not  be  approved. 

The  prevalence  of  this  folkway,  its  rise  into 
rational  consciousness  through  discussion,  its  dis- 
approval as  contrary  to  welfare,  and  its  final  prohi- 
bition are  typical  of  the  evolution  from  the  folkways 
of  a  second  mode  of  nurtureways;  customs  of  which 
the  group  is  no  longer  unconscious,  to  which  are 
gradually  attached  the  idea  of  welfare,  and  which 
are  therefore  subject  to  approval  or  disapproval. 
As  a  conscious  custom  of  the  people  this  class 
derived  from  folkways  might  well  be  designated  as 
Folk-custom;  a  more  expressive  and  useful  term,  I 
think,  than  the  Latin  word  mores,  adapted  by  Sum- 
ner  to  distinguish  them.1  To  say  that  the  group 
members  have  become  conscious  of  their  folk- 

1  The  word  mores  has  no  convenient  singular;  a  fact  that  in 
many  associations  is  compulsive  of  circumlocution.  It  lacks  the 
linguistic  flexibility  of  the  word  custom,  to  which  the  idea  we  wish 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          43 

customs  means  that  they  talk  about  them  and  find 
reasons   satisfactory  to   themselves   for   connecting  Social 
them  with  social  welfare  or  mischief.  forces 

When  by  this  process  the  folkgroup  is  agreed  that 
a  certain  folk-custom  is  necessary  to  its  welfare  it 
puts  forth  all  its  powers,  both  of  persuasion  and 
force,  to  provide  motives  for  its  observance  by  all  its 
members.    To  this  end  it  uses  all  the  arts  of  sugges-  Suggestion 
tion  through  myths,  poems,  symbols,  pictures,  watch- 
words,  catchwords,   epithets,  phrases,  the  exhorta- 
tion of  priests  and  the  eloquence  of  statesmen.     In 
many  subtle  forms  the  subconscious  forces  of  resent-  Approba- 
ful    or    kindly    folk-feeling,    even    unexpressed    in  tion 
words,  will  excite  in  the  consciousness  of  one  group 
member,   like   an   induced   current   of  electricity,    a 
counterpart  to  the  emotions  formed  in  the  brain  of 
his  fellow.     To  suggestion  and  persuasion  unorgan- 
ized society  adds  two  potent  forces,  approbation  and 
reprobation.    Upon  those  who  obey  it  confers  popu-  Reproba- 
larity,    distinctions,  titles,    decorations,    offices    and  tion 
other  marks  of  its  favor.    To  those  who  fail  to  fol- 
low these,  its  unwritten  rules  of  conduct,  or  who  dis- 
regard its  taboos,  it  deals  out  unpopularity,  ostra- 
cism, public  disapproval,  condemnation,  avoidances, 
excommunications,  disgrace,  persecutions,  lynchings, 
punishments,  death. 

Failing  to  accomplish  its  purpose  through  appro- 

to  express  has  already  become  attached  by  the  usage  of  a  long  line 
of  writers  on  jurisprudence,  as  well  as  of  many  successful  expo- 
nents of  sociology. 


44 


TRADE  MORALS 


bation  or  reprobation,  the  leaders  of  the  folkgroup 
Institutions  devise  institutions,  which  through  certain  machinery, 
such  as  laws,  courts  and  prisons,  are  designed  to 
supply  extra  motives  in  a  definite  and  orderly  but 
often  brutal  way  through  duress  and  death,  for  the 
conformity  of  all  to  such  folk-customs  as  are  con- 
sidered most  essential  to  its  welfare,  and  from  which 
it  endeavors  to  make  "dissent  so  dangerous  that  no 
one  will  dare  to  express  it."  Thus  it  is  that  the  folk- 
customs  of  any  time  or  place  become  obligatory  upon 
the  group  and  are  generally  followed  by  its  members. 
In  the  small,  compact  kinship  group  the  compulsion 
of  a  common  environment  toward  uniform  folk- 
customs  is  naturally  stronger  than  in  the  more  loosely 
bound  tribal  or  national  folkgroups  and  is  somewhat 
dependent  upon  the  degree  to  which  the  clan  is 
isolated  from  its  neighbors.  Free  circulation  of  its 
members  among  other  folkgroups  may  lead  the 
travelers  to  question  any  folk-custom  of  their  own 
which  they  deem  less  well  fitted  to  their  conditions 
and  needs  than  is  that  of  some  outgroup,  and 
may  bring  it  back  within  the  realm  of  discussion; 
from  which  process  a  gradual  change  in  some  folk- 
custom  may  arise.  The  strong  folk-feeling  by  which 
folk-customs  are  supported  and  changes  disfavored 
was  well  observed  in  Bacon's  wise  counsel  to  one 
returning  home;  that  he  "let  it  appear  that  he  doth 
not  change  his  country  manners  for  those  of  foreign 
parts,  but  only  prick  in  some  flowers  of  that  he  hath 
learned  abroad  into  the  customs  of  his  country." 


Transplan- 
tation from 
group  to 
group 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          45 

And  thus,  while  the  folkway  is  the  first  step  up 
from  the  natureways,  being  instinct  plus  nurture  or 
acquisition,  the  folk-custom  is  yet  a  second  step  on 
the  same  evolutionary  ladder,  being  folkway  plus 
rational  group  consciousness.  Through  these  nur- 
tureways  behavior — action  not  volitional — rises  into 
conduct — volitional  action  adjusted  to  an  end. 

Roughly  corresponding  to  the  phases  of  the  evo- 
lution of  society  are  the  action-modes  of  instinct, 
folkway  and  folk-custom  in  the  evolution  of  conduct. 
Instinct,  the  prevalent  unconscious  rule  of  conduct  in 
upper  animal  life,  results  from  the  pressure  of  natu- 
ral environment  and  survives  in  the  more  funda- 
mental impulses  of  our  own  behavior.  Folkways,  the 
primitive,  unconsidered  rules  of  intelligent  conduct, 
emerge  from  instinct  in  the  higher  animals,  have 
their  greatest  power  in  the  family  and  the  clan,  and 
like  these  groups  themselves  are  a  result  of  the  pres- 
sure of  both  natural  and  social  environment.  Folk- 
customs  demand  a  still  higher  intelligence  and  a 
higher  social  organization  and  are  folkways  become 
conscious  through  the  attribution  of  social  welfare. 
Emerging  from  the  folkways  in  the  clan,  folk- 
custom,  by  generating  a  sense  of  subordination  to  a 
common  welfare,  promotes  survival  of  the  tribe  in  Contribute 
war,  and  is  the  result  of  forces  working  both  within  to  survival 
and  without  the  folkgroup — of  structure  as  well  as 
environment. 

It  will  be  observed  that  small  and  compact  groups 
have  a  greater  number  of  common  interests  than 


46 


TRADE  MORALS 


Incidence 
of  folk- 
custom 


Differences 
of  folk- 
custom 
Slavery 


large  ones  whose  members  are  widely  scattered. 
The  larger  number  of  items  of  common  welfare 
arising  from  these  interests  produces  a  larger  mass 
of  folk-customs  in  a  small  group  than  in  a  large  one. 
As  the  social  forces  of  suggestion,  of  approbation 
and  of  reprobation,  can  be  much  more  powerfully 
expressed  in  the  kinship  or  industrial  group,  with  its 
daily  and  constant  contact  of  group  members,  than 
they  can  be  in  the  mass  of  more  scattered  aggrega- 
tions of  such  groups  into  tribes  or  nations,  it  follows 
that  the  incidence  and  obligation  of  folk-custom  (in 
so  far  as  it  is  controlled  by  unorganized  forces) 
in  any  given  state  of  civilization  are  like  those  of  the 
folkways,  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  size  of  the  group. 
Folk-customs  are  the  result  of  a  conscious  effort  to 
adapt  the  conduct  of  the  folkgroup  to  its  environ- 
ment, as  the  organization  of  institutions  is  a  con- 
scious effort  to  adapt  its  structure  to  its  surround- 
ings, and  Discovery  or  Invention  a  conscious  effort 
through  art  or  craft  to  adapt  the  environment  to  its 
needs. 

Like  the  folkways,  folk-custom  is  not  the  same  in 
different  places,  nor  alike  in  the  same  place  at  differ- 
ent times,  and  differs  as  between  co-existing  groups. 
Slavery,  the  ownership  of  one  human  being  by 
another,  which  we  have  rejected  as  a  folk-custom, 
was  approved  by  the  ancients  and  probably  as  much 
by  slaves  as  by  masters.  It  existed  as  an  inherit- 
ance from  the  Roman  Empire  everywhere  in  Europe 
for  the  first  thirteen  centuries  of  the  Christian  Era. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          47 

Even  the  Church  did  nothing  for  its  suppression, 
ecclesiastics  being  oftentimes  large  owners  of  slaves.   Associated 
To  it  was  due  the  leisure  which  enabled  the  Hebrew  with  leisure 
to   become   pre-eminent   in   literature    and   poetry, 
the   Greek   in   art   and  philosophy,   the   Roman   in 
politics,    public    works    and    conquest.      While    in 
Europe  the  work  of  emancipation  was  for  the  most 
part   completed  in  the   fourteenth  century,   slavery 
was  still  a  folk-custom  in  Scotland  in  the  coal  mines 
until  1775,  and  in  the  salt  mines  until  1799.     In  a 
few  of  the  German  principalities  it  survived  until   Discussion 
1848.     At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  our  Consti-  in  America 
tution    the    relation    of    the    slave    folk-custom    to 
welfare  was  questioned,   and  was  rejected  by  the 
Northern  States  of  the  Union,  who  had  no  economic 
interest  in  it.     And  yet  it  prevailed  in  New  York 
until  1840,  while  in  New  Jersey  the  census  of  1860 
showed  eighteen  slaves  out  of  a  population  of  672,- 
ooo.     At  that  time  slavery  was  justified  by  the  folk- 
custom  of  the  Southern  States,  whose  people  based 
upon  it  their  ideal  of  social  welfare,  in  the  belief 
that  without  it  cotton,  the  basis  of  their  economic 
prosperity,  could  not  be  grown.    The  Civil  War  was  Persistence 
the  final  arbitrament  of  a  discussion  which  had  lasted  of 
more  than  three  quarters  of  a  century,  and  as  its  Folk- 
result  the  Northern  States  imposed  their  free  labor  custom 
folk-custom  upon  their  Southern  brethren.    But  even 
now,   after  a   half  century  of  attempted   readjust- 
ment, many  of  the  folkways  growing  in  and  out  of 
slavery  survive  so  long  as  the  subject  race  and  the 


48  TRADE  MORALS 

master  race  are  obliged  to  live  alongside  of  one 
another.  Laws  and  other  institutions  which  dis- 
regard such  folk-customs  as  are  founded  upon  the 
welfare  of  the  Southern  people  or  of  its  leading 
groups  are  difficult  of  enforcement;  for  no  legisla- 
tion can  make  wrong  that  conduct  of  which  every- 
body capable  of  self-expression  approves.  Where  a 
folkgroup  feels  itself  strong  it  will  always  revolt 
from  an  attempt  to  impose  upon  it  an  alien  folk- 
custom,  and  declare,  as  in  the  Dutch  manifesto  of 
1581  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  1776, 
that  governments  derive  their  only  justification  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed. 

In  the  evolution  of  conduct,  therefore,  an  exami- 
nation  of   the   movements   or   acts   of   the   human 
Character-    organism  leads  us  to  believe  that  their  uniformities 
istics  of         can  be  grouped  first  in  two  great  classes.     The  first 
Natureways   of   these    are    Natureways,  composed    of   tropisms, 
reflexes  and  instincts,  whose  origin  is  material  and 
involuntary,  arising  from  the  constitution  of  matter 
or  from  the  known   forces   operating  therein,   are 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation,  are  exer- 
cised without  conscious  choice  on  our  part,  resulting 
Of  in  behavior;  naturally.     The  second  great  class  are 

Nurture-  Nurtureways,  whose  origin  is  intelligent;  psycho- 
ways  logical;  either  consciously  taught,  or  consciously 
practiced;  the  subject  of  choice;  never  inherent  but 
always  acquired,  and  dependent  upon  social  or  group 
forces  for  their  origin  and  continued  existence.  All 
modes  of  behavior  or  conduct  have  a  general  ten- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CONDUCT          49 

dency  toward  motion  or  change  along  evolutionary 
lines,  in  proportion  to  and  in  unison  with  changes  in 
the  orders  of  Life,  with  which  they  co-exist. 

The  nurtureways  in  their  expression  result  in  con- 
duct, voluntary  action  adapted  to  ends.     Of  them 
we  have  so  far  recognized  two  modes ;  the  first,  folk- 
ways,   unconsidered,    habitual,    uniform    modes    of 
action  practiced  by  men  who  acquire  them  in  the 
family    and    folkgroups.       From    the    folkway    is 
evolved  the  folk-custom,  after  the  group  has  become 
conscious  of  a  feeling  that  it  is  essential  to  its  wel- 
fare, conformity  to  which  it  enforces  with  all  its 
powers.  As   typical   of   Society,   the  modes   of   the  Relativity 
Natureways   roughly  correspond  to  the  phases  of  of  conduct- 
social  evolution;  of  which  they  are  first  the  result,   modes  to 
and  then  by  reaction,  the  cause.  social 

J  i 

It   is   in  the   folk-custom   mode   of  nurtureways,  p 
collectively  sometimes   also   called   mores,   that  we 
find  the  germs  of  morality,  whose  origin  and  growth 
will  be  discussed  in  the  next  lecture. 


IV 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS 


In  the  consideration  of  behavior  we  found  that 
in  its  gradual  progress  from  involuntary  and  uncon- 
scious action,  arising  out  of  physical  forces  or  chemi- 
cal reactions,  to  the  first  beginnings  of  conscious 

Natureways  conduct  actuated  by  design,  there  are  two  great 
classes  into  which  we  can  assort  acts.  The  first  being 
the  product  of  natural  forces  without  assistance 
from  the  self,  submental  in  origin,  can  be  called 
natureways  and  typically  arises  from  the  contact  of 
animal  life  with  its  environment. 

The  second  great  group  of  common  human  modes 
of  action  are  acquired  instead  of  inherited,  volitional 

Nurture-        rather  than  involuntary,  and  gradually  rise  out  of 

ways  subconsciousness  into  the  rational  through  various 

degrees  of  decision  or  judgment  applied  to  them  by 
the  actor.  Never  "natural"  and  always  "nurtural" 
the  title  "nurtureways"  seems  not  unfitting. 

Of  these  the  most  primitive  mode  is  that  of  the 

Folkways  folkways.  Unconscious,  habitual,  uniform  modes  of 
acting,  they  call  for  little  or  no  effort  of  choice, 
judgment  or  will,  and  arise  from  the  instinctive 
feelings  of  hunger,  love,  vanity  and  fear;  acquired 
by  imitation  they  are  rudimentary  in  the  higher 
animals,  and  reach  their  highest  potency  in  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  51 

smaller  and  more  primitive  groups,  such  as  families 
and  clans. 

The  next  higher  mode  of  human  conduct  is  that 
of  folk-custom;  folkways  of  which  the  folkgroup  has  Folk- 
become  conscious;  recognized  as  necessary  to  the  customs 
welfare  of  the  group,  and  enforced  by  it  through 
various  artifices  more  or  less  intelligently  devised  to 
that  end.  Conformity  with  folk-custom  is  approved 
by  the  folkgroup  as  right,  while  its  breach  is  con- 
demned as  wrong.  Notions  of  right  and  wrong  as 
applied  to  conduct,  therefore,  grow  out  of  the  appro- 
val or  disapproval  which  the  group  visits  upon  those 
who  respect  or  disregard  the  uniform  modes  of  con- 
duct which  it  looks  upon  as  essential  to  its  welfare. 

Folkways  and  folk-customs  embody  the  results  of 
man's  intelligence  and  observation  through  centuries 
of  experiments  in  the  art  of  how  to  live  and  satisfy  Folkways 
his  instincts  with  the  least  effort.     Faculties  the  most  co-ordinate 
recently  developed  are  always  those  that  involve  the  Life  along 
most  effort  in  their  exercise;  and  the  greatest  and  ^nes  °^ 
most  fatiguing  work  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  man  is       st 
the  exercise  of  choice  and  judgment.     And  so  the 
folkways  are  the  outcome  of  an  instinctive  desire 
to  adjust  life  to  environment  along  those  lines  that 
call   for  the   least   constant   output   of  choice   and 
judgment. 

In  spite  of  the  resistance  of  folkway  and  folk- 
custom  to  change,  owing  to  mental  effort  involved  in 
new  choices,  it  must  not  for  a  moment  be  supposed 
that  the  ways  and  customs  of  the  folk  are  fixed, 


52 


TRADE  MORALS 


Mutability 
in  stability 


Constant 
evolution 
and 

devolution 
of  Nurture- 
ways 


crystallized  or  immutable;  the  dead  hand  of  anti- 
quity throttling  a  virile  race  in  its  struggles  to  gain 
higher  happiness  through  a  nicer  adjustment  of  life 
to  constantly  changing  environment.  But  folk- 
custom  says  to  the  individual  or  to  the  subgroup — 
You  shall  not  pursue  your  advantage  at  the  expense 
of  the  folkgroup.  The  persistent  force  of  folk- 
custom  is  more  than  an  anthropological  curiosity, 
although  some  reformers  would  persuade  us  that  its 
only  function  is  to  resist  a  worshipful  movement 
called  Progress.  We  have  become  conscious  of 
the  existence  of  folk-customs,  it  is  true,  through  their 
study  among  ancient  and  primitive  peoples.  But  it 
does  not  follow  that  they  are  of  no  service  to  the 
modern  State.  Old  they  may  be,  but  not  always 
outworn;  like  the  Archean  rocks  they  may  still  yield 
the  richest  ores  for  the  making  of  the  social  part  of 
man's  machinery  of  efficiency. 

In  modern  society  both  folkways  and  folk-customs 
exist  in  all  stages  of  life,  growth  and  decay;  they  are 
born,  pass  from  youth  to  maturity,  and  die  daily. 
Once  attained,  the  sociological  view  of  life  gives 
insight  for  the  perception  and  classification  of  these 
uniform  sequences  of  conduct  of  which,  in  the  main, 
we  are  as  unconscious  as  we  are  of  the  wonderful  and 
brilliant  bird  life  which  scintillates  in  the  forest, 
hidden  behind  its  shade  to  those  who  know  not  how 
and  where  to  look. 

The  most  striking  attribute  of  folk-custom  is  that 
it  can  make  anything  right  and  protect  anything  from 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  53 

condemnation.  Moreover,  the  same  conduct  may  be 
prohibited  by  the  custom  of  one  group  and  permitted 
by  that  of  another. 

Slavery,    for    example,    exists    today    by    social  Incompati- 
approval   in   Turkey,    Morocco,    in   many   isolated  bility  of 
districts  of  the  Asiatic  and  African  colonies  and  in  ancient  and 
Mexico.      Folk-custom  in  the  tribe  of  Israel  com-  m°dern 

T7*     1 1 

mended  the  conduct  of  Samuel  in  hewing  to  pieces 
his  unarmed  captive  Agag,  king  of  the  Amalekites, 
by  the  direction  of  the  Lord  (I  Sam.  xv.  32,  33), 
and  likewise  the  slaughter  by  the  Hebrews  of 
the  helpless  women  captured  from  the  Midianites 
(Num.  xxi.),  although  such  conduct  would  be  con- 
demned by  our  folk-custom  today  as  criminal  and 
wrong.  Folk-custom  sanctions  the  Sunday  theater 
in  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  and  prohibits 
it  in  Boston,  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  It  per- 
mits the  sale  of  a  cigar  on  Sunday  in  Washington 
and  makes  it  a  crime  in  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

Confusing  as  the  discordance  of  folk-customs  may  Folk-cus- 
seem  to  those  who  observe  their  wide  divergences  torn  can  be 
under  differences  of  time  and  space,  they  are  none  Classified 
the   less   capable   of   being  studied,   compared   and 
grouped,  and  from  their  mandates  or  prohibitions 
with   respect   to   particular   acts   men   have   in   the 
course  of  time  rudely  drawn  general  rules  covering 
groups  of  acts;  and  these  rules  are  the  beginning  of  And 
morals.    A  moral  rule  is  only  an  artifice  of  the  mind  becomes 
to  simplify  the  daily  discovery  of  what  particular  tne  source 
conduct  is  right  or  wrong,  according  to  folk-custom,   °^  Morals 


54  TRADE  MORALS 

with  the  least  expenditure  of  effort.    To  its  enforce- 
ment the  controlling  coercive  influence  of  the  folk- 
group  is  extended;  and  every  act  embraced  by  the 
moral  rule  is  as  surely  approved  or  reprobated  as 
were  the  particular  acts  from  which  the  rule  was 
Right,  Duty  drawn.     From  moral  rules  are  drawn  the  concepts 
and  of  rights  and  duties.     Rights  are  nothing  more  than 

Obligation  conduct  which  one  member  of  the  group  has  the 
right  to  expect  from  another  member  of  the  same 
group.  And  duty  is  simply  a  right  turned  round; 
the  conduct  which  the  other  group  member  is  obli- 
gated to  perform.  Thus,  as  in  law,  a  moral  right, 
taken  together  with  a  moral  duty,  forms  a  moral 
obligation. 

Ethical  Ethical  principles  are  general  statements  of  what 

principle        is  moral,  i.e.,  right,  and  due  our  fellows,  drawn  from 
from  Moral  the  comparison  and  classification  of  those  obligations 
obligations     prescribed  by  folk-custom  as  binding  upon  all  the 
members  of  the  folkgroup.     The  evolution  of  an 
ethical  principle  can  be  made  apparent  by  a  con- 
sideration of  some  one  set  of  moral  obligations  in 
their  historical  sequence  through  the  various  phases 
of  social  evolution.    Take  for  instance  the  rights  of 
property  and  the  wrong  of  theft. 

Property  is  Property,  it  must  be  observed,  does  not  consist  at 
rights —  all  of  material  objects,  but  of  the  various  rights  of 
use,  control  and  disposal  which  persons  exercise  with 
regard  to  their  possessions.  To  begin  with,  the 
simplest  right  which  one  may  have  with  respect  to 
anything  is  to  use  it.  And  although  he  may  have  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  55 

right  to  use,  he  may  neither  be  able  to  control  it  for  — of  Use 
his  continued  enjoyment,  nor  for  qualified  disposal, 
such  as  to  lend  or  to  hire.    Nor  do  the  rights  of  use  — of 
and  control  necessarily  confer  the  right  of  absolute  Control 
disposal,  either   (a)   by  exchange,  that  is  to  say  by  — of 
sale  and  delivery,    (b)   by  gift,    (c)   by  bequest  or  Disposal 
other  testamentary  process  or  (d)  by  a  contract  to 
sell  and  deliver  at  a  future  time.    As  a  corollary  to 
these  rights  there  are  the  cognate  rights  of  acquisi- 
tion; by  plunder,  by  discovery,  by  fabrication,  by 
inheritance  or  by  exchange. 

The  primitive  foundations  of  property  rights  are 
undoubtedly  laid  in  the  instinct  of  acquisition  which  Acquisitive 
humanity  inherits   from  its   animal   forebears,   and  instinct  in 
from  whose  influence  it  cannot  escape.    It  shares  this  animals 
innate  tendency  with  the  squirrel  who  lays  by  a  store 
of  nuts  against  the  winter,  with  the  bird  who  defends 
its  nest,  or  the  bee  which  both  stores  the  honey  and 
stings  the  invader  of  its  hive.     Such  primitive  fore- 
runners of  property  rights  are  hardly  more  than  an 
assertion  of  the  right  to  defend  them,   for  except 
among  the  developed  group  life  of  the  bee  there  is 
no    acknowledgment    of    a    corresponding    duty    to 
respect  the  right  of  the  hoarder  or  the  builder,  and 
therefore  no  completed  obligation. 

In  the  life  of  the  child  the  outcropping  of  the  Its 
instinct  of  acquisition  may  be  observed  at  a  very  expression 
tender  age;  before  in  fact  the  infant  is  capable  of  'n 
expressing  emotion  other  than  in  the  crudest  way;  child  life 
but  in  its  promptings  we  may  unquestionably  find 


56  TRADE  MORALS 

the  source  of  its  later  potency  in  the  folkways  and 
folk-customs  of  the  successive  social  groupings,  in 
each  of  which  the  evolution  of  property  rights  has 
its  co-ordinate  phase. 

In  the  primitive  family  group  individual  property 
rights,   except  that  of  use,  were  practically  unde- 
Community  veloped;  the  folkway  being  for  the  group  members 
of  family       to  make  common  use  of  its  various  possessions.     As 
goods  the  group  was  industrially  self-sufficing  there  was  no 

occasion  for  disposal  by  exchange  save  in  case  of 
famine.  The  family  head,  the  father  or  mother,  had 
during  lifetime  only  a  titular  right  of  control  exer- 
cised for  and  on  behalf  of  the  group,  descending 
automatically  according  to  the  folkways  governing 
primitive  inheritances;  but  without  the  right  of  testa- 
tion  or  disposal;  and  in  the  rare  cases  when 
exchanges  were  required  folk-custom  established  a 
groupal  right  to  share  the  proceeds.  When  by  sepa- 
ration of  some  of  its  members  a  new  family  was 
established,  a  rough  partition  of  the  common  stock 
of  goods  was  accomplished,  as  in  the  classic  instance 
of  Jacob  and  Laban.  Under  these  circumstances 
there  could  be  no  theft  within  the  group.  The  sur- 
vival in  Roman  civilization  of  the  Patria  potestas  is 
an  enlightening  instance  of  the  persistence  in  culture 
of  the  shadowy  folkways  of  control  prevailing  in  a 
much  earlier  social  type.  Common  family  property 
rights  exist  to  some  degree  to  the  present  time;  what 
family  man  has  not  suffered  the  inconvenience  of 
unauthorized  appropriation  of  his  dress  suit,  his 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  57 

shoes,  his  shirt  studs  or  cuff  buttons,  with  no  sense  of 
wrongfulness  or  shame  by  his  children  or  his 
brethren?  The  rudimentary  idea  of  a  community  of 
goods  universal  among  primitive  people  still  survives 
in  the  developing  mind  of  the  child;  to  whom  it  is  not 
robbery  to  take  and  use  a  part  of  what  his  ancestors 
would  have  considered  as  common  goods. 

In  the  clan  folkgroup,  dominated  by  the  interest 
of  kin,  the  folk-customs  surrounding  common  use  of 
the  joint  product  continued;  each  member  had  rights  Limited 
of  use  in  the  game,  flocks  and  herds  and  fruits  of  the  control- 
field,  still  the  result  of  joint  effort.    But  the  folkways  rights  in 
permitted  individual  or  family  control  of  weapons  clans 
of  the  chase,  of  war,  of  hunting  dogs  trained  by 
members,  and  possibly  of  some  kinds  of  rude  tools, 
of  which  others,  like  grain  crushers,  were  still  the   Commu- 
property  of  the  clan.     Within  family  lines  the  folk-  "ism  in 
ways  preserved  the  earlier  strict  rules  of  succession  disposal 
for  the  common  stock  of  family  goods,  which  pro- 
hibited disposal  by  gift,  exchange  or  bequest.     Ex- 
changes, if  made,  were  communal;  members  of  out- 
groups,  strangers,  could  neither  hold  nor  inherit  any 
sort  of  property  rights.    With  environmental  condi- 
tions   that   made    for   scarcity   of   food   began   the 
exchange  of  products  by  plunder,  an  inciting  cause 
perhaps  of  the  petty  wars  that  led  on  the  one  hand 
to  eventual  subjection  and  slavery,  and  on  the  other 
hand  to   that   folk-custom   of   clan   alliances   which 
eventuated  in  the  formation  of  tribes. 

The  tribe,  therefore,  came  into  its  own  with  folk- 


58 


TRADE  MORALS 


Decline  of 
commu- 
nism 


Necessity 

for 

exchange 


Plunder  its 

primitive 

form 


ways  of  family  communism,  a  less  complete  clan 
communism,  and  the  beginnings  of  a  folk-custom 
asserting  rights  of  continuous  personal  control  over 
certain  classes  of  articles  for  enjoyment  as  well  as 
for  qualified  disposal,  i.e.,  lending  or  hiring  within 
the  limits  of  the  tribal  peace.  The  greater  division 
of  labor  within  tribal  bounds  naturally  overthrew 
the  self-sufficing  industrial  life  of  the  pre-existing 
clans;  there  were  commodities  in  excess  here,  in  short 
supply  there.  There  was  need  for  exchange.  The 
folk-custom  already  countenanced  plunder;  hence  it 
was  no  theft  to  rob  an  outgroup.  When  exhausted 
by  war,  tribes  who  normally  would  shun  reciprocal 
intercourse,  feigned  to  conform  with  this  folkway  by 
taking  a  quantity  of  their  common  goods  to  the 
border  and  leaving  them  there  in  the  trust  that  so 
easy  a  conformity  with  the  plunder  folkway  would 
tend  to  reciprocity.  And  so  it  was  that  the  advan- 
tages of  exchange  were  brought  into  consciousness 
and  neutral  grounds  were  established  on  contiguous 
borders,  and  by  joint  folk-custom  days  agreed  upon 
for  the  conduct  of  exchanges  in  a  primitive  market. 
Mercury,  the  god  alike  of  plunder,  of  travel  and  of 
trade,  represented  mythically  the  associations  which 
clustered  about  these  age-long  customs. 

As  intertribal  commerce  grew  the  kinship  sub- 
groups began  to  produce  specialized  products;  and 
the  developing  tribe,  finding  an  economic  loss 
involved  in  communistic  exchange,  adapted  its  folk- 
custom  so  as  to  acknowledge  a  right  of  disposal  of 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  59 

their  products  by  the  subgroups  themselves.     Mean-  Commerce 
time,  the  growing  use  of  tools  and  the  demand  for  begets 
more  effective  weapons  had  gradually  attached  some  r'gnts  °f 

A '  \ 

of  the  rights  of  disposal  to  the  earlier  folk-custom  £ 
recognizing  individual  rights  of  use  and  control  of 
these  implements.  In  a  ruder  and  more  primitive 
age  weapons  and  tools  had  been  buried  with  him  who 
had  enjoyed  in  them  the  primitive  rights  of  use  and 
control;  but  as  such  implements  grew  more  complex 
and  more  valuable  folk-custom  attached  to  them  the 
right  of  gift  or  bequest,  at  first  confined  to  kin,  then 
extended  to  all  tribal  members.  Meantime,  folk- 
customs  were  growing  which  established  private 
rights  of  use,  control  and  disposal  in  booty  resulting 
from  the  plunder  of  an  outgroup  by  an  individual, 
or  the  tools,  etc.,  used,  made  or  inherited  by  him. 
As  facilities  for  market  exchanges  increased  it  could 
not  be  but  that  thrifty  industrials  should  be  allowed 
similar  rights  in  purchased  goods. 

The  private  ownership  of  land  is  unrecognized 
amongst  groups  which  in  civilization  have  not  passed  Rise  of 
beyond  the  hunting  and  grazing  stages  of  subsist-  land 
ence;  at  first  boundaries  are  recognized  to  communal  ownership 
domains,  and  later  a  more  definite  folkgroup  interest 
in  the  area  which  boundaries  circumscribe,  combined 
with  a  capacity  for  disposal,  becomes  imbedded  in 
the  tribal  folkway.     Later,  a  folkway  of  individual 
possession  of  a  portion  of  the  soil  through  use  and 
occupancy  is  somewhere  accidentally1  and  sporadi- 

1  The  use  of  this  term  does  not  imply  that  the  event  was  un- 


60 


TRADE  MORALS 


cally  developed;  and  the  greater  efficiency  of  a  fixed 
tenure  so  demonstrated  gives  rise  to  a  nascent  folk- 
custom  of  full  land  ownership — which,  in  spite  of  its 
spread,  is  far  from  universal  even  in  the  national 
type  of  folkgroup. 

Corrobora-  There  are  a  host  of  survivals  in  language,  custom 
tion  from  and  law  of  these  earlier  and  less  complete  property 
language  folk-customs  of  the  family  clan  and  tribal  folkgroups. 
In  Roman  jurisprudence  the  word  dominium  and  in 
English  the  words  demesne  and  domain  remind 
us  of  the  days  when  the  dominus,  or  head  of  the 
house,  alone  exercised  the  communal  family  rights  of 
possession.  The  word  mancipium,  "the  firm  grasp," 
applied  to  another  form  of  property  right,  is  a  relic 
of  the  supposition  that  it  was  supposed  to  have  been 
acquired  by  plunder,  and  if  not  retained  by  a  very 
firm  grasp  would  probably  be  lost  again. 

Evolution  When  but  a  few  of  these  rights  are  in  question  it 
of  a  moral  is  enough  for  folk-custom  to  say  this  man  has  a  right 
principle  to  his  axe,  his  spade,  his  spear,  his  knife,  his  fishhook, 
his  arrow,  etc.,  giving  in  each  instance  a  specific 
pronouncement  for  the  members  of  the  folkgroup  to 
follow.  But  as  instances  grow  more  and  more 
numerous  there  is  need  for  a  general  rule  condensing 
and  summarizing  all  of  the  separate  prohibitions  or 
permissions  of  the  separate  folk-custom.  And  hence 
the  classification  of  all  of  these  property  rights  as 
possessions  and  the  moral  rule  drawn  therefrom — 

caused ;  only  that  it  was  the  product  of  normally  conflicting  forces 
acting  for  once  in  harmony. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  61 

"thou  shalt  not  steal" — consolidating  in  a  single 
precept  the  duty  of  all  with  regard  to  the  property 
rights  acquired  by  individuals  in  material  objects. 

In  the  nation,  to  the  earlier  rights  of  disposal  by  Property 
exchange  and  gift  are  added  the  more  personal  rights  rights  in 
of  disposal  by  bequest   and  by  contract ;   in  acqui-  tne  nation- 
sition,  rights  to  exclusive  possession  of  what  objects  ^  phase 
have  been  made,   invented  or  used  are  developed 
through  patent  right,  copyright,  easements,  etc. ;  and 
the   facility   of   exchange   is   much   promoted   by   a 
gradual  growth  of  folk-customs  covering  the  buying 
and  selling  of  written  representatives  of  property 
rights  in  more  cumbrous  material  objects.     Title  to 
a  thousand  bales  of  cotton  or  to  a   share  in  the 
ownership  of  a  railroad  passes  easily,  according  to 
our   folk-custom,   by  the  transfer  of   a   warehouse  Extension 
receipt  or  of  a  stock  certificate.     And  thus  nations  of  disposal 
have  seen  their  interest  in  the  establishment  of  folk-  rights 
custom  permitting  a  far  wider  range  of  individual 
property  rights  than  was  dreamt  of  in  the  simpler 
social  structure.    The  right  of  disposal  has,  with  few 
exceptions,  become  absolute  in  those  nations  which 
are   most   civilized,   because   experience   has   shown 
that  in  this  way  is  produced  the  largest  supply  of 
consumable  goods,  fit  for  the  fending  off  of  famine 
and  want  as  well  as  for  the  satisfaction  of  those  more 
complex   desires   arising   from   the   psychic   motive 
forces    which    more    and    more     are    dominating 
mankind. 

And  so  we  may  see,  through  all  groupal  phases  of 


62 


TRADE  MORALS 


Synchronic 
growth  of 
social 
structure 
and  moral 
obligation 


Prevalence 
of  custom 
— in  inverse 
ratio  to  size 
of  group 


the  family,  the  clan,  the  tribe  and  the  nation  with  a 
constantly  increasing  complexity  of  social  structure, 
a  corresponding  accretion  and  enlargement  by  the 
addition  of  one  attribute  after  another  to  the  folk- 
custom  of  private  ownership.  In  the  family  there 
are  few  individual  rights  of  property;  use  and  con- 
trol are  communal,  disposal  is  practically  unrecog- 
nized. In  the  clan  structure  the  right  of  use  becomes 
personal;  the  right  of  control  vests  in  the  family,  the 
right  of  disposal  is  still  in  the  folkgroup.  In  the 
tribe,  rights  of  use  and  control  become  personal; 
some  of  the  simpler  forms  of  the  right  of  disposal 
gradually  attach  to  the  individual;  others  are  still 
communal  or  unknown.  In  the  nation  the  right  of 
contract  is  gradually  discovered  and,  with  caution, 
the  folk-customs  admit  individuals  to  its  privileges. 
It  is  neither  comprehensive  nor  universal  to  this  day. 
So  far  as  land  is  concerned,  property  rights  therein 
are  developed  later  and  more  slowly  than  those  in 
movable  objects;  in  modern  national  societies  land 
ownership  is  in  various  stages  of  incomplete  posses- 
sion, varying  widely  from  folk  to  folk. 

As  we  have  observed  with  respect  to  folkways, 
their  prevalence  and  incidence  are  in  inverse  ratio  to 
the  size  of  the  group.  And  so  it  is  with  custom.  The 
customs  simultaneously  prevailing  in  any  subgroup 
are  the  folk-customs  of  its  folkgroup  plus  an  incre- 
ment of  class-customs  which  are  felt  to  be  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  the  subgroup.  Therefore,  the  prev- 
alence of  custom,  like  that  of  folkways,  is  in  inverse 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  63 

ratio  to  the  size  of  the  group.  It  follows  that,  given 
a  number  of  acts  which  the  folkgroup  recognizes  as 
right  or  wrong,  the  subgroup  will  place  a  still  larger 
number  of  acts  in  the  same  category.  Certain  con- 
duct, like  theft  or  fraud,  are  folkgroup  wrongs,  uni- 
versally condemned  by  folk-custom;  other  conduct, 
like  unfair  competition,  destructive  underselling  or 
preferential  price  rebates,  are  wrongs  to  some  one  of 
the  industrial  groups  and  are  so  condemned  by  and 
complained  of  by  them.  "Scabbing"  is  a  wrong 
only  in  the  class-custom  of  the  trades  union  groups. 
Elsewhere  to  do  what  no  other  group  member  will 
do,  to  work  as  no  other  group  member  will  work,  is 
universally  commended.  It  is  conduct  such  as  has 
been  idealized  in  that  charming  little  tale,  "A  Mes- 
sage to  Garcia."  From  the  progressive  expansion 
of  the  right  of  divorce  it  is  evident  that  it  is  not  con- 
demned by  folk-custom,  while  it  is  severely  banned 
by  the  sentiment  of  certain  religious  subgroups. 

In  any  society  compounded  of  subgroups  there  will 
be   co-existent   numerous   systems   of   class-customs,   Class-cus- 
some  of  whose  rules  are,  but  many  of  which  are  not,  torn  within 
accepted  by  the  greater  group.  a  Society 

The  members  of  subgroups  within  the  folkgroup 
will  hold  to  class-custom  with  respect  to  the  fellow 
members  of  their  subgroup;  and  to  folk-custom  with 
respect  to  other  members  of  their  folkgroup.  Some- 
times this  will  display  in  intragroup  relations  a  rever- 
sion to  clan  folk-custom,  often  suggesting  a  variety 
of  social  phases  co-existent  in  the  same  folkgroup, 


64 


TRADE  MORALS 


Social 
morals 
drawn 
from 
folk-cus- 
tom 


Method  of 
growth 


and  of  a  lower  phase  of  civilization  in  some  of  the 
subgroups.  Social  morals  being  the  generalized  pre- 
cepts of  the  folkgroup  respecting  conduct  approved 
by  it  as  right,  or  condemned  by  it  as  wrong,  it  is  plain 
that  they  are  primarily  based  upon  the  whole  body  of 
its  folk-custom.  But  it  must  be  noted  particularly 
that  class  or  group  morals  are  therefore  not  neces- 
sarily social  morals.  According  to  the  legal  and 
medical  codes  it  is  immoral  for  lawyers  or  physicians 
to  advertise.  Yet  advertising  is  approved  by  society 
at  large ;  and  it  is  deemed  perfectly  right.  Rebating 
has  never  seemed  wrong  to  a  railroad  man  while  it 
has  been  vigorously  condemned  by  the  public.  Nor 
are  the  morals  of  one  group  necessarily  those  of 
another.  Adulteration  is  not  considered  wrong  by 
a  woolen  manufacturer,  while  with  an  apothecary  it 
is  a  crime.  Society  is  conscious,  however,  of  those 
customs  which  have  received  its  general  social  recog- 
nition and  finds  in  these  only  the  basis  of  its  social 
moral  code. 

The  growth  of  social  morals  is  continually  pro- 
ceeding through  the  adoption  as  socially  binding  on 
the  folkgroup  of  some  of  the  obligations  arising  from 
class-custom;  particularly  those  which  in  the  life  of 
the  subgroup  have  conserved  its  welfare  and  made 
it  a  more  potent  factor  in  the  life  of  the  folkgroup. 
If  the  class-customs  so  selected  are  such  as  have  been 
common  to  a  large  number  of  subgroups  they  may 
be  accepted  as  folk-customs  without  discussion.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  they  only  express  the  welfare- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  65 

ideals  of  a  few  of  the  more  prosperous  and  powerful 
of  the  constituent  groups,  efforts  may  be  made  to 
impose  them  upon  the  folkgroup  by  discussion  and 
persuasion  or  perhaps  by  force.  If  by  force,  it  will 
be  through  institutions, — laws,  courts  or  military 
subjection, — and  the  obligation  may  be  imperfectly 
recognized  or  even  rejected.  And  so  neither  the 
British  government  nor  the  Christian  churches,  with 
all  their  powers  of  institutional  and  moral  control, 
have  even  in  three  centuries  been  able  to  change  the 
sexual  morality  of  the  Creole  population  of  the  West 
India  Islands — which  is  still  dominated  by  the  folk- 
custom  of  more  plastic  family  ties  imported  from  its 
original  African  home. 

Morals  are  born  in  the  folk-  or  class-groups,  grow  Birth, 
with  their  compounding  or  co-ordination,  and  decay  growth 
as  they  disintegrate.    It  is  an  example  of  growth,  for  an<^  death 
instance,  that  it  is  now  moral  to  take  interest  for       morals 
the  use  of  money;  although  this  right  has  only  been 
socially  accepted  for  about  five  hundred  years ;  before 
that  it  was  an  item  of  the  morals  of  a  subgroup;  and 
sinful  in  the  civilization  of  the  tribal  Jews.     As  an 
example  of  decay,  the  moral  rule  firmly  fixed  during 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  on  Sunday 
it  was  wrong  to  read  a  secular  book,  or  take  a  walk, 
or  to  go  on  a  journey,  has  completely  gone  to  pieces 
during  the   last   twenty  years,   partly   through   the 
importation  hither  of  German   folk-custom,   partly 
through  the  reaction  against  the  folk-customs  of  the 


66 


TRADE  MORALS 


Puritans,  whose  stern  folk-faith  has  been  rejected  by 
modern  religious  thought. 

The  spread  Morals  once  brought  into  existence  are  spread 
of  morals  in  the  same  way  as  folk-customs  ( I )  by  the  consoli- 
dation or  combination  of  groups,  (2)  by  the  influence 
of  leading  men  who  perceive  the  favorable  effect  on 
welfare  of  some  particular  line  of  conduct,  deduce 
therefrom  a  moral  principle  and  propagate  it  by 
discussion  from  one  contiguous  group  to  another, 
and  (3)  by  commerce  and  migration — the  inter- 
change between  various  groups  of  their  surplus  pro- 
ducts and  their  surplus  men,  inducing  at  the  same 
time  interchange  of  custom  and  opinion.  In  this  way 
both  folk-customs  and  the  moral  principles  drawn 
from  them  are  diffused  and  modified  and  their  bind- 
ing force  is  spread  from  one  people  to  another. 
Thus  a  large  part  of  the  Puritan  morals  transplanted 
from  England  in  the  seventeenth  century  were  in  the 
early  nineteenth  century  diffused  throughout  the 
Western  and  the  Northwestern  States,  wherever  our 
transportation  facilities  would  carry  them. 

Incidence  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  moral  rules  univer- 
of  morals  sally  accepted  by  the  whole  of  civilized  society  are 
few  and  simple ;  that  a  greater  number  are  recognized 
by  each  of  the  various  subgroups  of  which  the  nation 
is  composed;  and  finally  that  a  still  larger  number  are 
recognized  as  binding  upon  the  family.  Thus  the 
incidence  of  the  morals  is  the  same  as  that  of  the 
folkways  and  of  the  folk-customs,  in  inverse  ratio  to 
the  size  of  the  group.  Connections  in  the  morals 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  67 

prevalent  in  a  folkgroup,  naturally  following  conflic-  Conflictions 
tions  in  folk-customs  from  which  moral  rules  have  of  morals 
arisen,  may  be  brought  about  therefore : 

1.  By  differences  in  the  class-customs  and  con-  Through 
sequent  group  morals  of  its  subgroups.    A  difference  class- 

of  opinion  is  likely  to  arise  as  to  what  conduct  is  customs 
obligatory  on  both  parties  to   a   transaction  when 
they  are  members  of  subgroups  widely  separated 
either  in  space  or  development. 

2.  By   industrial   or  political   changes   bringing  Through 
about  new  conditions,  such  as  the  formation  of  new  economic 
subgroups  to  have  relations  with  other  subgroups,  or  changes 
the  absorption  of  outgroups,  and  where  therefore 

no  folk-customs  have  as  yet  been  established  to 
govern  the  conduct  thus  arising,  causing  the  birth  of 
a  new  folk-custom. 

3.  By  the  decay  of  folk-customs,  formerly  firmly  Through 
established,  but  which  by  the  reactions  upon  conduct  the  decay 
caused  by  the  disintegration  of  previously  prevailing  °f  folk- 
groups    are    made    obsolete,    and   while    nominally  customs 
respected  are  really  no  longer  needed  for  welfare — 

if  indeed  they  are  not  absolutely  contrary  to  it. 

It   is   the   clash   of   customs   and   the   conflict   of  Moral 
opinions   that   make   human    conduct    a    subject    so  selection  of 
inherently   interesting  to  members  of  a   folkgroup  clashing 
upon  whom  the  task  of  selecting  a  general  folkrule  con(luct- 
of  right  conduct  from  conflicting  or  uncertain  sub- 
group   morals   devolves.      In   each   community   the 
activity  of  this  process  is  proportioned  to  the  ease  of 
intercommunication  of  thought,  either  by  personal 


68 


TRADE  MORALS 


contact  or  through  the  printed  word,   and  to  the 
rapidity  of  industrial,  political  and  economic  changes 
Begins  with  simultaneously  becoming   effective.     The   first   step 
discussion      in  moral  selection  is  discussion,  and  in  this  discussion 
the  leaders  are  those  upon  whom  nature  or  culture 
has  bestowed  the   power   of  more   faithfully   and 
clearly  reproducing,  in  imagination,  the  conditions 
to  which  conduct  is  to  be  applied  and  of  developing 
the   rule   or  principle   by  which   it   should  be   gov- 
erned.     From    this    discussion    rules    of    idealized 
Formula-       right  action  are  next  formulated  in  which  a  certain 
tion  of  order   and   consistency   of  moral   conduct   are   laid 

principles      down,   and  by  which  the  most  intelligent  part   of 
the   community — its   leaders — believe   all   its  mem- 
bers should  be  guided.     Finally  these  ideal  stand- 
General        ards   of  social  morals   get  to  be   accepted  by   all 
social  persons   as   binding  upon   the    folkgroup,    and   the 

acceptance  conduct  affected  by  them  clearly  recognized  as 
right  or  wrong,  and  a  definite  subject  of  social 
punishment  or  approval.  They  are  then  adopted 
as  a  folk-custom. 

If  moral  rules  were  invariable,  immutable  and 
everlasting — always  the  same  at  one  time  and  place 
as  at  any  other  time  and  place — we  would  have  none 
of  this  conflict,  debate  and  discussion  as  to  the  moral 
obligation  which  we  ought  to  assume.  But  we  have 
observed,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  prevailing  ideal 
of  moral  obligation,  even  as  put  forward  by  the 
highest  religious  and  legal  authorities,  has  varied 
from  race  to  race,  and  from  era  to  era.  We  have 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  69 

seen  that  the  feeling  of  moral  obligation  is  funda-  Moral 
mentally  based  upon  the  modes  of  conduct  prevail-  stages  rela- 
ing  as  nurtureways  at  any  given  place  and  period,  tive  to  social 
Modes  of  conduct,  themselves,  vary  directly  with  the  phasesand 

phase  of  social  development  through  which  the  folk-  modes 

i  •  i    ,1  T?  of  conduct 

group  in  which  they  are  current  is  passing,     .brom 

these  known  relations  we  can  draw  this  inference; 
that  morals  move  and  change  by  steps  or  stages 
along  a  line  of  constant  evolution  in  direct  accord 
with  the  phase  of  society,  and  with  the  modes  of 
conduct,  with  which  they  co-exist. 

Neither  in  clan,  tribe  or  nation  was  there  origi- 
nally any  effort  to  preserve  the  rights  of  members 
of  outgroups;  and  so  in  the  times  of  Elizabeth  and 
the  Stuarts  predatory  private  war  on  the  subjects 
of  a  peaceful  nation  was  countenanced  by  British 
folk-custom  and  excused  by  the  international  morals 
of  the  day.    The  plunder  of  the  outfolk  in  the  form 
of  piracy  was  winked  at  in  the  Carolinas  and  not   Folk-cus- 
condemned  by  the  citizens  of  New  York  or  Phila-  torn  gives 
delphia   down  to   the   beginning   of  the   eighteenth  no  rights  to 
century;  so  that  efforts  of  lawmakers  to  suppress  °utgroups 
the  practice  were  nullified  by  the  partiality  of  juries. 
Until  after  the  War  of  Independence  the  capture  of 
negroes  and  the  trade  in  slaves  formed  a  profitable 
part  of  the  ventures  of  the  old  merchants  of  Salem 
and  Boston;  in  both  instances  because  these  practices 
were  supported  as  favorable  to  the  folkgroup  wel- 
fare.    They  were  a  survival  in  the  nation  phase  of 
civilization,    of    plunder-exchange    folk-customs    in- 


70 


TRADE  MORALS 


herited  from  a  previous  phase  of  tribal  society,  and 
morally  excused  by  the  persistence  in  outgroups  of 
the  primitive  exclusion  from  market  rights,  or  of 
obsolescent  but  not  obsolete  property  rights  in  human 
beings.  Even  in  our  own  day  modern  folkgroups 
or  nations  but  imperfectly  recognize  a  moral  prin- 
ciple when  applied  to  other  peoples ;  and  citizens  feel 
less  firmly  bound  to  protect  the  property  rights  of 
foreigners  than  they  do  those  of  the  fellows  of  their 
own  group. 

Just  as  the  savage  considers  it  right  to  murder  any 
stranger  but  wrong  to  steal  a  trifle  from  any  fellow 
Restricted     tribesman,  so,  at  the  present  day,  ingroups  of  trades- 
to  the  unionists  consider  it  a  greater  wrong  to  deprive  a 

ingroup  fellow  worker  of  his  job  than  to  waylay  and  assault 
a  strikebreaker,  and  our  nation  group  has  justified 
a  conduct  toward  the  Colombians  and  Filipinos  that 
would  be  regarded  as  the  grossest  injustice  if  prac- 
ticed at  home. 

Folk-custom,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  the  selection 
by  the  folkgroup,  in  accordance  with  its  ideals  of 
welfare,  of  certain  of  the  folkways  produced  by 
efforts  to  satisfy  interests  arising  out  of  the  four 
great  leading  motives  of  hunger,  love,  vanity  and 
fear.  And  these  motives  work  with  reference,  not 
to  the  interest  of  its  members  as  individuals,  but  to 
their  interest  as  members  of  a  group,  or  the  interest 
of  the  folkgroup  itself.  It  is  in  fact  the  selfish 
interest  of  the  group,  large  or  small,  which  prevails 
in  the  establishment  and  choice  of  folk-custom,  and 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  MORALS  71 

which  dominates  the  morals  derived  from  those 
folk-customs.  These  so  derived  are,  however,  only  a 
part  of  the  body  of  moral  rules  which  finally  prevail 
among  the  higher  folkgroups;  and  another  part, 
drawn  from  nurtureways  which  are  more  the  results 
of  individual  emotions  than  of  group  feeling,  it  will 
next  be  necessary  to  consider. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  HUMANISTIC 
IDEALS 


Folk-cus- 
tom negli- 
gent of 
individual 
interest 


Conditions 
limiting 
the  right 
to  live 


It  has  been  noticed  by  all  observers  that  the  moral 
system  founded  upon  folk-custom  is  disregardful  of 
the  individual.  This  is  not  surprising  when  its 
origin  is  considered.  It  is  the  product  of  social 
evolution — of  the  evolution  of  folkgroups.  Out  of 
the  established  folkways  the  group  selects  as  folk- 
customs  those  which  it  deems  essential  to  its  group 
welfare  and  enforces  them.  Except  in  so  far  as  the 
individual  shares  the  welfare  of  the  group  they  do 
not  consider  him.  The  men  who  compose  the  group 
inherit  the  habits  and  instincts  of  their  animal  fore- 
fathers, and  the  precedent  of  nature,  which  pays  no 
heed  to  individual  welfare,  is  what  they  have  to  guide 
them  in  their  concept  of  what  it  is  right  that  indi- 
viduals should  expect  of  the  folkgroup.  In  all 
nature  and  with  primitive  man  there  was  almost 
always  an  overproduction  of  individuals  with  respect 
to  the  means  of  subsistence,  so  that  many  must  in 
some  event  perish,  in  order  that  few  might  survive. 

And  so  it  was  not  to  be  questioned  that  the  primi- 
tive folkgroup,  under  the  pressure  of  recurring 
famine,  should  find  in  a  corresponding  limitation  of 
the  right  to  live  some  security  for  its  own  integrity 
and  survival.  In  many  parts  of  China  the  redundant 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  73 

population  is  still  kept  down  by  the  folk-custom  of 
drowning  or  poisoning  a  considerable  fraction  of  its 
girl  babies ;  they  think  no  more  of  it  than  we  do  of 
drowning  kittens.  It  is  a  filial  duty  among  the 
Eskimos  to  kill  their  old  people  when  they  become 
burdensome. 

Many  illustrations  may  be  adduced  of  the  essen-  Brutality 
tial  brutality  of  folk-custom  in  its  bearing  upon  the  of 
individual.  In  some  groups  it  has  made  a  sacred  folk-cus- 
duty  of  cannibalism.  In  mediaeval  times  folk-custom  tom 
approved  the  slaughter  of  heretics  just  as  we 
approve  the  killing  of  rattlesnakes,  and  regarded 
torture  as  a  legitimate  means  of  procuring  evidence. 
Our  own  folk-custom  justifies  and  glorifies  war,  the 
ruin  of  business  rivals,  and  does  not  condemn  the 
bargain  by  which  a  titled  roue  buys  the  daughter  of 
a  multimillionaire;  just  as  the  folk-custom  of  the 
Italian  peasant  still  permits  him  to  sell  his  daughter 
to  a  man  she  has  never  seen,  and  without  reproach. 
Folk-customs  have  until  the  last  half-century  relent- 
lessly driven  their  own  social  victims — beggars, 
prostitutes,  criminals,  the  unfortunately  disabled — 
to  the  wall.  Annually  the  Spartans  had  a  roundup 
of  their  subject  Helots  and  killed  a  number  of  them 
to  keep  fresh  their  own  warlike  qualities.  Not  con- 
demned by  folk-custom,  these  acts  are  not  contrary 
to  the  morals  of  the  time  and  place.  We  ourselves 
plead  the  "higher  law" — or  the  sanction  of  custom — 
in  mitigation  of  murder  or  mutilation  of  persons 
caught  in  adultery,  and  in  the  South  it  is  impossible 


74 


TRADE  MORALS 


Survey  of 
the  motives 
to  behavior 
— Nature- 
ways 


The 

motives  to 
conduct — 
Nurture- 
ways 


to  convict  of  murder  the  white  slayer  of  a  colored 
man.  These  are  only  extreme  instances  of  the  fre- 
quent brutality  of  folk-custom,  and  of  its  indiffer- 
ence to  individual  welfare  whenever  it  is  in  supposed 
conflict  with  that  of  the  group. 

In  our  survey  of  the  various  influences  by  which 
conduct  is  guided  we  began  with  instinct;  for  it 
seemed  to  be  the  parent  of  human  folkways  and  to 
govern  conduct  that  might  be  partly  influenced  by  the 
will.  Much  of  our  behavior  is,  nevertheless,  actu- 
ated by  reactions  of  our  organism  with  its  environ- 
ment of  an  absolutely  involuntary  kind;  tropisms, 
or  movements  which  are  the  result  of  purely  physical 
surroundings  such  as  the  external  influence  of  heat, 
light,  electricity;  the  motions  of  air  and  water,  and 
the  chemical  reactions  within  the  body.  Above  these 
comes  another  class  of  involuntary  movements 
caused  by  reflex  nervous  action,  which  must  be 
reckoned  with  in  a  full  consideration  of  all  the 
conditions  by  which  our  ultimate  action  is  deter- 
mined. Beside  instinct,  the  next  higher  faculty,  we 
have  now  considered  the  social  influences  of  folk- 
ways and  folk-customs;  but  if  we  examine  what  is 
conceded  by  everybody  to  be  the  highest  type  of 
morals  as  they  are,  it  is  plain  that  there  is  something 
yet  needed  to  account  for  those  higher  motives, 
beyond  and  superior  to  the  merely  groupal  welfare; 
which  may  express  not  the  potency  of  the  group 
toward  the  individual,  or  the  subjection  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  group;  but  that  interaction  of  individ- 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  75 

uals  upon  individuals  whose  rule  has  been  expressed 
by  moral  masters,  from  Confucius  to  Christ,  in  the 
precept  that  we  must  do  to  others  as  we  would  have 
others  do  to  us. 

Because  up  to  this  point  we  have  heard  little  about 
the  individual  man  it  will  not  do  to  suppose  that  he  The 
does  not  exist;  or  that  his  existence  can  be  ignored  individual 
in  any  discussion  of  the  moral  principle  by  which,  to 
be  selected  for  survival,  his  conduct  must  be  guided. 
Because  in  physics  and  chemistry  we  hear  much  of 
atoms  and  molecules  and  compounds  and  of  their 
behavior  under  various  reactions,  it  would  not  do  to 
overlook  the  less  conspicuous  electrons  and  ions  of 
which  they  are  composed. 

The  conduct-mode  which  we  shall  now  discuss  is 
discernible  only  when  self-consciousness  becomes  so 
far  developed  as  to  recognize  the  welfare  of  the  indi-  His  claim 
vidual  as  an  individual.  At  first  it  obtrudes  itself  for  con- 
but  faintly,  for  it  is  overwhelmed  and  overshadowed  sideration 
by  the  tremendous  social  force  of  folk-customs  which 
arise  from  group-consciousness.  It  increases,  how- 
ever, in  potency  as  man  continues  to  evolve  toward 
the  higher  type.  Individual,  it  co-operates  with  the 
social,  to  the  making  of  a  wholly  moral  man.  But 
exactly  as  liberty — one  of  the  social  expressions  of 
individual  consciousness — begins  to  express  itself 
politically,  so  soon  as  the  tremendous  integrating 
bonds  of  intertribal  conflict  have  begun  to  dissolve  in 
the  more  disintegral  peace  powers  of  a  nation,  just 
so  soon  do  men  begin  to  seek  a  wider  individual 


76 


TRADE  MORALS 


Universal 

contending 

forces 


Concur- 
rence and 
Antagonism 


welfare  than  can  be  pursued  under  their  continued 
subjection  to  the  folkgroup,  as  expressed  in  its  folk- 
customs.  And  so  individualism  enters  into  compe- 
tition with  socialization  as  a  means  of  human 
welfare. 

In  all  kinds  of  action  and  reaction,  whether  of 
material  or  physical  bodies,  we  always  find  ourselves 
in  the  presence  of  opposite  and  contending  forces, 
the  resultant  of  which  is  a  compromise  or  balance 
along  whose  lines  the  resultant  motion  or  activity 
takes  place.  In  physics  we  call  these  opposing  forces 
attraction  and  repulsion;  in  chemistry  we  speak  of 
them  as  affinity  and  resistance.  The  expression 
which  they  take  in  economics  is  that  of  co-operation 
and  competition;  in  politics  of  socialism  and 
individualism.  All  in  all  these  are  nothing  more 
than  the  physical  or  psychical  expression  of  two  uni- 
versal causes  of  motion  underlying  all  nature  and 
life,  which  are  summarized  by  the  opposing  ideas  of 
concurrence  and  antagonism.  In  morals  the  concur- 
rent forces  are  those  which  impel  men  to  act 
together  for  the  welfare  of  the  group;  the  antago- 
nistic forces  are  those  which  impel  them  to  act  for 
their  individual  welfare.  And  it  is  along  the  balance, 
or  resultant  of  these  forces,  that  society  and  morals 
move  in  their  onward  progress. 

For  every  act  there  are  motives.  In  those  that  we 
have  thus  far  considered  we  have  seen  the  influence 
only  of  the  four  great  primeval  motives  of  hunger, 
love,  vanity  and  fear.  As  society  progresses  in  the 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  77 

practice  of  the  peace  folk-custom,  as  mankind  be-  Sympathy 
comes   more   gentle    and   intelligent,    a    fifth   social  the  fifth 
motive   is   discernible   in   addition   to   these.      This  social 
motive  is  that  of  compassion  or  pity,  which  since  the  motlve 
time  of  Confucius  has  been  recognized  as  the  source 
of  the  highest  form  of  moral  conduct.     Compassion 
is    the    capacity    that    one    individual    possesses    of 
imagining  the  feelings  of  another  and  which  makes 
him   unwilling   to   do    anything   which   is   likely   to 
injure  that  other  person.     And  yet,  as  Dr.  Johnson 
has  observed,  it  is  not  natural  to  man.    Children  are 
always  cruel.     Savages  are  always  cruel.     We  may 
have  uneasy  sensations  for  seeing  a  creature  in  dis- 
tress without  pity;  for  we  have  not  pity  unless  we 
wish  to  relieve  it. 

The  origin  of  pity  is  found  in  the  parental  instinct,    Originates 
expanding  in  man  into  the  tender  emotion  which  is  in  the 
evoked  by  the  helpless  child — "flesh  of  our  flesh."  parental 
This  tender  emotion  is  most  naturally  extended  to  lnstinct 
include  blood  relations  composing  the  kinship  group; 
its   first  heterethnic  manifestation   is   probably  the 
feeling  of  guest-friendship,  the  earliest  evidence  of 
compassionate  relations  with  strangers.      From  its 
impulses  are  generated  modes  of  conduct  satisfying 
interests  arising  out  of  a  new  motive  and  tested  by 
a  new  standard.    The  new  motive  is  compassion  for 
individual  suffering,   the  interest  is  to  prevent  the 
suffering,  and  the  standard  is  that  which  we  would 
have  the  other  person  do  to  us  under  like  circum- 
stances— the  Golden  Rule. 


78 


TRADE  MORALS 


Its  psychic 
aspect 


Its 

influence 

on 

evolution 


Like  the  motives  of  vanity  and  fear,  the  compas- 
sion motive  is  psychic,  and  is  built  upon  the  frame- 
work of  a  developed  brain.  Psychologically  it  is  a 
complex  sentiment  instead  of  a  primary  instinct.  Its 
diffusion  and  acceptance  are  due  to  the  fact  that 
those  who  are  most  actuated  by  this  motive  have  a 
better  chance  for  survival  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence than  those  by  whom  it  is  not  possessed. 

The  course  of  natural  selection  in  the  evolution  of 
greater  sensitiveness  of  nervous  organization  in 
the  human  race  through  compassion  has  been  well 
stated  by  Sutherland:  "The  man  who  is  a  good 
father,  a  good  husband  and  a  good  citizen,  is  the 
ancestor  of  many  progeny;  while  the  Napoleonic 
type  of  abundant  brains  but  deficient  sympathies, 
even  though  it  make  a  brilliant  career,  perishes  in 
a  century  or  less  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Each  person  now  living  has  two  parents,  four  grand- 
parents, eight  great  grandparents  and  so  on.  Thus 
ten  generations  back  his  ancestors  formed  a  living 
regiment  of  1024  persons.  Make  a  small  allow- 
ance" for  in-breeding  "and  assume  that  on  the 
average  each  Englishman  of  the  present  day  had 
1000  ancestors  of  the  tenth  degree  all  living  in  the 
time  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Let  us  assume  that  there 
were  then  born  500  boys  and  500  girls  who  might 
have  been  the  ancestors  of  the  now  living  individual. 
A  portion  of  these  were  weeded  out,  some  of  them 
died  through  want  of  sufficient  parental  care,  others 
as  they  grew  up  died  through  their  own  failure  of 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  79 

sympathetic  qualities.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  out  of  a  thousand  possible  ancestors  fifty  would 
on  the  average  be  eliminated  through  the  failure  of 
parental,  conjugal  or  social  qualities.  In  Elizabeth's 
time  out  of  every  1000  persons  born  five  were 
actually  hanged.  But  brawls,  venereal  diseases,  etc., 
were  far  more  potent  cleansers  of  society.  Thus 
those  eliminated  would  be  replaced  by  men  and 
women  of  better  stock  (that  is  to  say,  those  who 
were  protected  from  elimination  by  more  effective 
sympathies).  And  so  we  may  feel  sure  that  at  each 
generation  a  steady  5  per  cent  of  the  poorer  type  was 
withdrawn,  leaving  room  for  the  expansion  of  those 
richer  in  sympathetic  qualities.  But  the  power  of 
such  a  steady  withdrawal  acting  in  cumulative 
fashion  is  enormous  when  spread  over  a  sufficient 
time  .  .  .  and  if  we  had  means  of  sifting  the  people 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  into  two  equal  sets,  those 
who  could  pass  in  these  days  for  fairly  good  men 
and  women,  and  those  who  were  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctly below  the  average  ...  it  would  be  found 
that  practically  none  of  the  inferior  blood  flows  in 
the  veins  of  the  present  generation;  we  being  bred 
almost  wholly  from  the  better  stock."  Evolution- 

We  have  seen  how  folk-custom  is  important  for  ary  contrast 

the  welfare  and  preservation  of  the  folkgroup;  it 

c       ,       ,  .,  .  .  folk-cus- 

better  fits  the  clan,  tribe  or  nation  to  survive — as  a          and 

group.      From   the   foregoing   illustration  we   may  compas- 
perceive    how    conduct    derived    from    compassion  sion 


80 


TRADE  MORALS 


Personal 
liberty  its 
political 
symptom 


Characters 
of  Human- 
istics 


better  fits  for  survival  the  individual,  with  which 
folk-custom,  except  incidentally,  is  little  concerned. 

A  progressive  alteration  of  our  moral  sentiments 
toward  the  recognition  of  a  right  of  individual  hap- 
piness, as  contrasted  with  group  welfare,  is  due  to 
the  increasing  force  which  the  compassion  motive 
acquires  in  the  course  of  the  social  evolution  from 
savagery  to  civilization.  Personal  liberty,  its  politi- 
cal symptom,  is  the  outcome  of  a  sense  of  pity  felt 
by  the  masses  of  a  folkgroup  for  themselves  and  for 
each  other  in  a  state  of  misery  and  degradation  of 
which  they  become  conscious  through  the  contrast 
of  their  condition  with  that  of  their  dominant  sub- 
group. Its  force  is  individualistic,  expressed  either 
by  orderly  attempts  to  change  folk-custom  through 
institutional  adaptations,  as  in  the  slow  breaking  up 
of  military  feudalism  in  England;  or,  if  repressed,  by 
outbursts  of  violence  such  as  those  of  the  French 
Revolution. 

Morals  derived  from  the  customs  engendered  by 
pity  flow  from  the  individual  to  the  group,  while 
those  derived  from  folk-custom  flow  from  the  group 
to  the  individual.  So  different  in  fact  are  these 
customs  from  the  folk-customs  originating  in  folk- 
ways that  I  propose,  in  order  to  keep  them  distinct 
in  our  minds,  to  give  them  a  special  name,  and  to  call 
them  Humanistics.  Humanistics,  therefore,  are 
habits  of  feeling  and  conduct  formed  to  satisfy  the 
interests  derived  from  the  motive  of  compassion  for 
the  misfortunes  of  others.  The  influence  of  human- 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  81 

istic  ideals  moves  centrifugally  from  the  social  atom 
out  toward  the  social  compound;  while  that  of  folk- 
custom  moves  centripetally  in  upon  the  individual 
from  the  group. 

To  become  the  source  of  moral  rules,  the  human-  Their 
istic  ideals,  at  first  advanced  and  practiced  by  indi-  influence 
viduals,  must  become  accepted  and  imbedded  in  the  on  morals 
ideals  and  emotions  of  some  of  the  subgroups.    We 
have  seen  that  many  of  them  promote  the  survival 
of  the  family,  and  it  is  there  that  their  sway  is  always 
firmest.     The  conduct  which  expresses  them  is  actu- 
ated by  a  nice  regard  for  the  feelings  and  welfare 
of  other  individuals  and  its  first  recognition  by  folk- 
feeling  is  in  the  prescription  that  whatever  conduct 
may  be  exacted  from  a  man  in  his  relations  with 
other  groups,  within  the  limits  of  his  own  family  it  Their 
must  always  be  honorable  or  it  will  be  condemned  expression 
by  the  folkgroup.     Later,  and  in  a  lesser  degree,  it  in  honor 
is  expected  in  his  relations  toward  a  larger  kinship 
group,  such  as  may  survive  the  extinction  of  the  clan; 
he  may  treat  his  cousin  or  his  uncle  less  scrupulously 
than  his  wife  or  children  but  yet  the  folk-feeling  pre-  Their 
vails  that  compliance  with  prevailing  folk-custom  will  limitations 
save  him  from  obloquy  in  his  dealings  with  the  other 
members  of  the  folkgroup.     And  so  we  do  not  con- 
demn a  man  who  is  merely  honest  in  his  dealings  with 
strangers;  but  we  expect  him  to  be  more  or  less 
honorable  in  his  conduct  toward  his  kin. 

The  process  by  which  humanistic  rules  of  conduct 
become  the  basis  of  a  new  kind  of  folk-custom  origi- 


82 


TRADE  MORALS 


The 

folk-cus- 
tom of 
infanticide 


Denounced 
by  leaders 


Slavery  a 

partial 

remedy 


nates,  therefore,  in  the  kinship  group.  Some  of  the 
group  members,  in  whom  compassion,  or  the  tender 
emotion,  is  most  strongly  developed,  discover  the 
suffering  of  other  individuals,  as  a  result  of  conduct 
following  some  folk-custom,  and  by  their  protests 
folk-feeling  is  gradually  excited  to  the  point  of  its 
condemnation. 

Take,  for  example,  the  folk-custom  of  infanticide. 
It  seems  to  have  prevailed  amongst  the  early  peoples, 
especially  those  in  which  population  tended  to  outrun 
subsistence.  The  Egyptians  practiced  it  with  no 
feeling  of  guilt  against  the  Hebrews  in  the  days  of 
the  captivity.  The  Jews  themselves  practiced  it,  and 
the  instance  of  Abraham's  treatment  of  his  two  sons 
shows  that  their  folk-custom  was  averse  neither  to 
child  exposure  nor  to  child  sacrifice.  They  had  at 
no  time  any  hesitation  in  perpetrating  it  upon  an  out- 
group.  But  prophets  and  seers — idealists — de- 
claimed against  it.  The  best  families  showed  that 
they  disapproved  of  it;  and  these  families  by  their 
continued  aptitude  for  survival,  and  consequent 
leadership,  had  great  influence  in  the  spread  of  their 
ideals.  Rather  than  expose  or  kill  their  daughters, 
they  introduced  the  humanistic  of  sparing  them,  even 
if  later  sold  as  slaves  or  concubines.  By  degrees  the 
humanistic  thus  introduced  became  a  folk-custom  of 
the  Jews.  The  Greeks  of  the  epic  period  were  quite 
indifferent  to  the  survival  of  their  children,  so 
much  so  that  the  great  Spartan  tribe  was  by  this 
sentiment  reduced  to  insignificance.  Infanticide  was 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  83 

well  ingrained  in  early  Roman  folk-custom  and  it 
was  one  of  the  unquestioned  rights  of  the  Patria 
potestas.  Softened  by  the  humanistic  of  adoption, 
it  nevertheless  prevailed  long  enough  to  become  a 
contributing  condition  of  Roman  degeneracy.  In 
the  fourth  century  of  our  era  the  Hebrew  human- 
istics,  which  had  prevailed  over  political  ineptitude 
to  fit  that  tenacious  race  for  selection  in  survival, 
began  through  the  Christian  variant  of  its  religion  Mediaeval 
to  affect  the  folk-feeling  of  the  Roman  peoples.  And  orphan- 
yet  the  folk-customs  of  exposure  and  abandonment  ases 
declined  but  slowly;  throughout  the  Middle  Ages 
they  persisted  in  spite  of  efforts  at  religious  and 
statutory  suppression.  In  France,  as  late  as  1638, 
children  were  sold  at  the  gates  of  the  Lying-in-Hos- 
pital to  the  first-comer  for  a  franc  apiece.  Institu- 
tions devised  to  mitigate  their  brutality,  such  as  bre- 
photrophia  or  orphanages,  had  a  mediaeval  incep- 
tion, but  only  in  the  seventeenth  century  were  they 
popularized  through  the  devoted  efforts  of  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul.  The  milder  doctrines  then  found 
their  opportunity  because  the  growth  of  the  arts 
under  peace  folk-customs  had  gradually  changed 
conditions  by  dispelling  the  fear  of  famine,  and  so 
permitted  the  humanistic  better  to  fit  for  survival 
the  nations  by  whom  it  was  adopted.  Thus  by 
degrees  the  barbaric  folk-custom  of  infanticide 
declined  before  the  Hebrew  humanistic  of  infant 
preservation,  until  the  children  whose  lives  it  had 
saved  lived  to  persecute  the  people  by  whom  it  had 


84 


TRADE  MORALS 


Supplanting 
a  folk-cus- 
tom with  a 
humanistic 


Potency  in 
promoting 
survival 


been  engendered;  among  whom  yet  we  find  the  most 
notable  examples  of  paternal  love. 

This  illustration  shows  the  salient  features  of  a 
humanistic  as  conducive  to  family  or  tribal  survival. 
Its  origin  through  compassion  in  a  minor  folkgroup; 
the  individual  stimulus  to  its  ingroup  spread  through 
the  efforts  of  leading  men  and  its  adoption  as  a  reli- 
gious ideal;  its  further  expansion  through  the 
absorption  of  its  folkgroup  as  a  well-dispersed  sub- 
group in  a  greater  folkgroup,  and  by  the  latter's 
predilection  for  the  religious  system  of  the  former; 
the  long-time  failure  of  law  and  religion  to  sup- 
press a  folk-custom  founded  upon  environmental 
conditions;  and  upon  the  change  of  those  conditions 
the  renewal  of  the  humanistic  propaganda  through 
individual  effort  and  institutional  device;  its  final 
acceptance  as  folk-custom  and  its  firm  hold  in  modern 
morals. 

We  have  seen  how  the  higher  sympathetic  develop- 
ment of  groups  which  first  established  such  a  human- 
istic gave  them  an  advantage  over  other  groups  in 
whom  it  was  deficient;  they  became  increasingly 
better  fitted  to  survive  and  correspondingly  more 
potent  in  folkgroup  activities.  For  the  success  of  a 
tribe,  both  externally  as  a  war  group  and  internally 
as  a  peace  group,  is  dependent  upon  the  strength  of 
its  intergroup  sympathies;  and  the  tribes  in  whom 
those  sympathies  are  most  developed  are,  therefore, 
best  fitted  to  survive.  The  superior  brute  force  and 
more  selfish  folk-customs  of  the  Huns,  Goths  and 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  85 

Vandals  did  not  prevent  them  from  being  absorbed 
and  obliterated  by  the  milder  and  more  sympathetic 
humanistic  ideals  of  the  European  peoples  whom 
they  subdued  and  amongst  whom  they  settled. 
Though  better  fighters  than  their  adversaries,  the 
less  sympathetic  Turks  have  not  been  able  to  stand 
up  against  their  more  civilized  Northern  neighbors 
in  the  struggle  for  national  supremacy. 

Because  the  exercise  of  sympathy  promotes  the 
survival  of  the  folkgroup  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, the  latter,  therefore,  consciously  accepts  and 
enforces  some  of  the  humanistics  of  its  subgroups  in 
the  same  way  that  it  does  its  folk-custom  and  between  Acceptance 
these,  except  as  to  origin,  difference  disappears;  such  as 
humanistics  being  eventually  merged  in  folk-custom,   folk-cus- 
And  so  at  this  juncture  the  sympathetic  forces  which  tom 
have  been  flowing  outward  from  the  individual  to 
the  group  react  and  flow  inward  from  the  group  to 
the  members.     The  group  now  exacts  socially  what 
its  individual  members  first  demanded. 

While    normally    humanistics     originate     within 
family  groups,  they  may  in  the  larger  folkgroups 
arise  and  spread  through  a  propaganda  led  by  an   Influence  of 
individual    and    then    accepted    and    promoted    by  organized 
an  artificial  subgroup  formed  especially  for  the  pur-  propaganda 
pose.     Take  for  example  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
to  animals.  It  was  never  a  British  folk-custom  before 
the  nineteenth  century.     In  1805  cock  fighting,  bull 
baiting,  bear  gardens,  badger  baiting  and  dog  fight- 
ing were  not  considered  wrong  any  more  than  bull 


86 


TRADE  MORALS 


Idealistic 
aspect 
of  the  hu- 
manistics 


fighting  is  today  in  Spain  or  Mexico.  Schools  had 
their  cock  fights  at  which  the  schoolmaster  presided. 
Thomas  Young,  who  about  that  time  wrote  an  essay 
on  humanity  to  animals,  admitted  that  in  doing  so 
he  was  sensible  of  laying  himself  open  to  no  small 
portion  of  ridicule.  Twenty  years  later  an  altru- 
istic group  which  had  been  converted  to  Young's 
opinions  founded  an  institution — the  Royal  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  Thirteen 
years  later  the  influence  of  this  group  on  the  national 
folkgroup  was  so  effective  that  the  humanistic  of 
sympathy  with  brute  creation  was  selected  to  be  of 
equal  legal  value  with  folk-custom,  and  the  first 
cruelty  to  animals  act  passed  in  1837.  By  degrees 
the  humanistic  won  acceptance  and  was  effectively 
enforced  by  the  folkgroup  on  all  its  members  by  the 
sentiment  which  procured  the  passage  of  a  more 
stringent  law  in  1849.  Finally  vivisection  was  regu- 
lated in  1876 — nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century 
after  the  work  of  propagating  the  humanistic  had 
been  begun  by  a  single  leading  mind. 

Such  principles  when  first  asserted  may  be,  and 
often  are,  in  advance  of  those  changes  in  the  mental 
attitude  of  the  folkgroup  which  would  fit  them  to  be 
received  and  accepted  as  humanistics.  For  human- 
istics  like  folk-customs  must  needs  receive  the 
emotional  assent  of  the  folkgroup,  or  at  least  of  that 
portion  of  it  which  is  recognized  by  the  bulk  of  its 
members  as  best  fitted  to  lead  in  the  acceptance  of 
new  rules  of  conduct.  There  is,  of  course,  a  period 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  87 

when  the  proposed  humanistic  is  debated  and  denied, 
a  period  during  which  the  compassionate  ideals  from 
which  it  is  formed  are  under  discussion  and  when  it  Influence  of 
is  uncertain  whether  it  will  or  will  not  accord  with  Discussion 
the  ultimate  necessities  of  social  group  evolution. 
During  this  period  the  folkgroup  (which  is  nothing 
if  not  practical)  will  refuse  to  accept  it  as  a  basis  for 
a  general  rule  of  moral  conduct.  Its  advocates  are 
dreamers,  theorists,  reformers,  impracticals, — and 
so  indeed  they  are, — yet  it  sometimes  happens,  as 
was  said  of  the  reformers  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, "the  skins  of  those  who  opposed  them  were 
tanned  to  bind  the  second  edition  of  their  works." 

For  it  is  in  the  humanistic,  altruistic  or  sympa-  Moral 
thetic  interpretation  of  group   relationships  where  progress 
lies  the  hope  of  moral  progress  in  social  justice.  Pro-  through 
posed  humanistics,   therefore,   should  be  patiently  "uman- 
considered  and  discussed,  and  not  held  to  ridicule;  l 
for  before  long  such  of  these  doctrines  as  survive 
the  discussion  will  reach  the  point  of  social  accept- 
ance.     Their   practice   will   be    deemed   honorably 
binding    on   the    subgroup    by    which    it    is    first 
accepted  and  then  gradually  will  become  accepted  as 
folk-custom;  to  act  in  accordance  with  which  is  a 
moral  duty,   and  generally  binding  upon  the   folk- 
group,    with    its    transgressor    stigmatized    as    an 
"inhuman"  person  or  as  a  social  enemy. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  from  which  we  can 
survey  the  whole  field  of  conduct  as  influenced  by 
nurtureways,  which  are  the  three  modes  of  common 


88 


TRADE  MORALS 


Survey  of      action  characteristic  of  mankind  as  organized  in  the 
nurture-         groups  of  which  society  is  constituted, 
way  First  then,   the   folkways:  originating  in   animal 

influences  groups;  characteristic  of  the  most  primitive  folk- 
groups;  unconsidered,  habitual,  uniform  within  the 
group;  a  means  by  which  all  men  endeavor  so  to 
systematize  their  daily  life  as  to  escape  the  effort  of 
Folkways  a  constant  exercise  of  choice  and  judgment  in  the 
doing  of  acts  necessary  to  continued  survival; 
motived  by  forces  of  hunger,  love,  vanity  and  fear; 
acquired  through  education  and  imitation;  instinct 
plus  acquisition. 

Folk-  Next,  folk-customs  (or  mores)  derived  from  folk- 

customs  ways  by  a  conscious  choice  of  such  as  are  deemed  by 
the  folkgroup  to  be  connected  with  its  welfare.  They 
are  the  product  of  a  newly  arisen  group-conscious- 
ness. To  conform  with  folk-customs  is  right,  to  dis- 
regard them  is  wrong.  They  are  favored  by  the 
folkgroup  through  the  suggestive  influence  of  folk- 
feeling  and  upheld  with  pains,  penalties  and 
rewards.  Folk-customs  are  folkways  plus  groupal 
welfare.  From  the  clan,  tribe  and  other  semi- 
civilized  social  phases  upward,  they  constitute  a 
potent  factor  in  fitting  folkgroups  for  selection  and 
survival. 

Human-  The  third  mode  of  conduct  is  humanistics;  accord- 

istics  ing  with   ideals   originating  with,    and   propagated 

by,   individuals  or  subgroups  so   as  to  modify  the 

anti-individualistic    trend    of    many    folk-customs. 

They   are   the    offshoot    of   the    growing   sense    of 


HUMANISTIC  EVOLUTION  89 

self-consciousness.  Founded  on  compassion  for 
others,  they  are  gradually  diffused  within  the  folk- 
group  through  the  power  of  sympathy  to  better 
fit  its  possessors  to  survive  in  civilization.  Charac- 
teristic of  the  higher  social  phases  of  upper  tribal 
and  national  culture,  they  are  the  basis  of  the  higher 
or  altruistic  morality.  Humanistics  are  folk-customs 
plus  compassion.  Humanistic  ideals  flow  from  indi- 
viduals to  the  groups,  while  the  prohibitions  and 
precepts  of  folk-custom  flow  from  the  group  to  the 
individual.  Originating  in  the  family  and  promoting 
its  survival,  they  are  like  the  folkways  in  this,  that  Honor 
their  sway  and  incidence  are  in  inverse  ratio  to  the 
size  of  the  group.  The  conduct  which  expresses 
them  is  often  called  honor;  it  is  upheld  by  folk- 
feeling  in  the  greatest  measure  within  the  fellowship 
of  the  family  group;  in  a  lesser  degree  toward  other 
members  of  the  folkgroup.  But  by  degrees  a  human- 
istic may  be  emotionally  enrolled  as  a  folk-custom, 
in  which  case  the  conduct  which  it  prescribes  is  like- 
wise upheld  by  social  sanction.  And  thus  conduct 
which  conforms  with  an  accepted  humanistic  becomes 
right,  and  conduct  repugnant  to  it  wrong,  in  like 
manner  to  that  which  arises  from  a  folk-custom 
adapted  from  folkways;  only  with  a  lesser  degree 
of  intensity. 

From  these  two  categories  of  right  or  wrong  con-  Moral 
duct  are  drawn  general  rules  of  morals  to  aid  men  Conduct 
in  practicing  the  art  of  acting  in  accord  with  folk-  an  Art 
feeling.    And  folk-feeling  is  that  state  of  group-con- 


90  TRADE  MORALS 

sciousness  which  is  excited  by  ideals  of  social  welfare 
held  at  a  given  time  and  place  by  a  folkgroup. 
Social  welfare  is  a  condition  produced  in  direct  ratio 
to  the  complete  adjustment  of  group  life  to  its 
environment.  Morals,  therefore,  are  a  means  of 
harmonizing  the  folkgroup  with  the  out-conditions 
and  in-conditions  of  its  environment.  Science,  and 
the  arts  which  are  derived  from  the  sciences,  are 
other  means  to  the  same  end;  but  with  these  we  are 
not  now  concerned. 

Morals,  like  their  parent  folk-customs,  correspond 
to    the    phase    of    social    structure    through   which 
Its  the  folkgroup  may  be  passing  at  any  given  time  and 

Adjuncts  place;  primitive  society  implies  a  different  and 
simpler  set  of  moral  rules  from  that  which  pre- 
vails in  the  higher,  more  complex  types  of  folk- 
group.  And  so  in  drawing  general  moral  rules  it  is 
also  found  that  there  are  often  conflicts,  sometimes 
between  folk-custom  and  humanistics,  sometimes 
between  folk-custom  and  class-custom,  and  sometimes 
between  the  class-customs  of  the  different  subgroups 
within  the  folkgroup,  so  that  men  are  uncertain 
as  to  the  conduct  morally  expected  of  them  in  certain 
situations.  Looking  further  we  may  observe  that  to 
aid  the  determination  of  what  conduct  to  pursue  in 
practice  in  the  moral  art  there  are  certain  instru- 
ments, either  devised  by  the  folkgroup  or  developed 
in  human  nature,  the  principal  of  which  are  religion, 
law  and  conscience;  and  these  we  shall  proceed  next 
to  consider  under  the  general  title  of  moral  adjuncts. 


VI 

MORAL  ADJUNCTS— INSTITUTIONS  AND 
CONSCIENCE 

The  history  of  modern  ideals  relative  to  the  treat- 
ment of  the  insane  affords  another  illustration  of  the 
typical  course  by  which  humanistics  are  begotten,  Early 
grow,  modify  folk-custom  and  finally  are  absorbed  theories  of 
into  the  folk-feeling  and  the  morals  of  the  folk-  Insanity 
group.  To  primitive  or  uncivilized  man  insanity 
appears  as  a  part  of  the  supernatural.  The  bab- 
blings of  idiots  and  the  irrational  acts  of  lunatics  are 
looked  upon  as  the  direct  expression  of  deities  or 
demons.  Prevailing  amongst  all  primitive  peoples, 
theories  of  the  transmigration  and  embodiment  of 
good  or  evil  spirits  provide  explanations  reasonable 
in  their  time  and  place  for  the  phenomena  of  morbid 
exaltation  and  derangement.  Exaltations  not  de- 
structive were  looked  upon  as  an  expression  of  the 
Good  above  nature.  Piers  Plowman  (1377)  speaks 
of  lunatics  as  God's  minstrels.  But  paroxysms 
having  a  violent  or  destructive  outcome  were  con- 
sidered symptoms  of  possession  by  evil  spirits.  In 
holy  writ  theologians  found  indubitable  support  for 
this  theory  and  for  the  folk-customs  which  arose 
from  it.  So  persistent  have  been  what  we  now 
recognize  as  the  delusions  of  witchcraft  and  diaboli- 
cal possession  that  to  this  day  they  survive  in  Ian- 


92 


TRADE  MORALS 


The 

doctrine  of 
diabolical 
possession 


Inspiration 
attributed 
to  some 
forms  of 
insanity 


Other 
forms 
deemed  of 
evil  purpose 
and  so 
treated 


Witchcraft 


guage  and  possibly  to  some  degree  in  popular  senti- 
ment. Amulets  to  ward  off  evil  spirits  are  still 
carried  in  the  most  civilized  countries  in  the  world. 
We  still  say  of  a  perverse  person  that  "he  must  be 
possessed  by  a  devil"  and  solemn,  religious  cere- 
monies for  casting  out  devils  from  the  bodies  of  the 
possessed  are  to  this  day  officially  retained  in  the 
rituals  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Churches.  And 
even  within  recent  years  the  rite  of  exorcism  has  been 
practiced  by  the  Anglican  priesthood. 

While  from  heathen  times  the  mildly  insane  were 
considered  to  be  inspired,  and  their  prophecies  were 
eagerly  studied  by  those  who  expected  to  find  in 
them  some  forecast  of  future  happenings,  the  lot  of 
those  who  were  violent  or  destructive  was  by  no 
means  so  pleasant.  Here  it  was  held  that  the  soul 
of  the  real  man  was  absent  and  that  for  the  expul- 
sion of  the  evil  spirit  which  had  taken  its  place  any 
means  of  bodily  coercion  was  entirely  legitimate. 
Possession  by  demons  was  a  characteristic  of  the 
belief  in  witches,  who  were  nothing  more  than 
feeble-minded  old  women  whose  incoherent  utter- 
ances were  taken  as  a  sign  of  evil  purpose.  And  so 
folk-custom  justified  even  death  as  an  appropriate 
remedy  for  this  devil-devised  disorder.  King  James 
I  of  England  in  his  "Demonology"  (1599)  wrote  of 
its  treatment,  that  "it  is  commonly  used  by  fire,  but 
that  is  an  indifferent  thing,  to  be  used  in  every  coun- 
try according  to  the  law  or  custom  thereof."  Many 
thousands  of  these  agents  of  the  evil  one  were  thus 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  93 

condemned  and  burned  alive;  even  by  ministers  of 
religion.  It  was  not  as  an  enemy  to  the  British  king 
that  Joan  of  Arc  was  put  to  death  by  the  Bishop  of 
Beauvais,  but  as  a  demented  person  who  had  shown 
all  the  attributes  of  witchcraft.  According  to  the 
reason  of  the  times,  folk-custom  classed  witchcraft 
with  murder  and  theft  as  inimical  to  folkgroup  wel- 
fare, and  it  was  no  wrong  that  it  should  be  repressed 
in  the  same  way  as  other  serious  crimes  against 
society. 

The  first  Christian  asylums  for  the  insane  were   Rise  of 
founded  in  Spain  during  the  fifteenth  century,  but   Christian 
they  did  not  begin  to  make  their  appearance  in  Eng-  Insane 
land  and  other  parts  of  Europe  until  the  latter  part  Asylums 
of  the  seventeenth;  and,  except  that  their  charges 
were  no  longer  burned  alive,  the  methods  of  treat- 
ment  sanctioned  by   folk-custom   were   hardly  less 
cruel  than  those  that  had  previously  prevailed.    If 
any  treatment  were  attempted  it  was  by  blows,  bleed- 
ing and  chains.  Often  the  insane  were  confined  in  the   Cruelty 
prisons  with  those  who  were  awaiting  trial  or  the  of  their 
execution  of  sentence,  and  like  the  latter  secured  by  methods 
iron  fetters.     Shakspear   (1600)    refers  to  lunatics 
as  deserving  "a  dark  house  and  a  whip."     Burton 
(1621)    describes  a  madman  as   "a  ghastly  sight, 
naked  in  chains  doth  he  lie,  and  roars  amain." 

But  asylums  were  rare;  for  the  most  part  lunatics 
were  doomed  to  local  custody,  chained  to  a  post  in 
the  open  air  or  under  a  shed,  dependent  for  food  on 
the  charity  of  passers-by.  When  cared  for  at  home 


94 


TRADE  MORALS 


Home 
treatment 
equally 
cruel 


Brutalities 
justified  by 
folk-custom 
in  the 
eighteenth 
century 


Skeptical 
foundations 
of  a 

humanistic 
reform 


the  most  indescribable  cruelties  were  practiced  on 
troublesome  patients  and  without  social  condemna- 
tion. In  Wales,  as  late  as  1843,  a  mad  woman  was 
found  in  her  own  daughter's  house  chained  in  a 
crouching  posture,  and  her  knees  had  worn  so  long 
against  her  breast  that  its  skin  was  raw  and  bleeding. 

At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  public  institu- 
tions for  the  care  of  the  insane  were  committed  to 
prevailing  folk-custom  by  which  vomitings,  bleed- 
ings— ad  deliquium  animi — prolonged  duckings, 
whippings,  solitary  confinement  in  dark  cells  and 
restraint  by  chaining  to  posts  or  beds  were  the 
approved  remedies.  Private  institutions  were  even 
worse.  "Persons  may  be  and  are  taken  forcibly  to 
these  houses  without  any  authority,  stripped  naked, 
taken  to  a  dark  room  and  deprived  of  all  communi- 
cation with  the  outer  world."  (1765.)  As  an 
effort  to  expel  the  demon  by  which  the  sufferer  was 
possessed  such  treatment  was  wrong  neither  by  folk- 
custom  nor  by  law. 

With  the  progress  of  rationalism  which  followed 
the  renascence  of  classic  learning  there  arose  a  band 
of  skeptics,  to  whom  the  sanctions  of  prevailing 
custom  were  no  deterrents.  The  supernatural  origin 
of  insanity  began  to  be  doubted  by  at  least  a  few.  In 
1690  Locke  laid  the  foundations  of  modern  ration- 
alistic psychology.  Condillac  in  1746  had  popular- 
ized the  new  philosophy  in  France.  In  1762 
Morgagni  had  asserted  the  physical  origin  of  mental 
disease.  In  1789  Howard  had  visited  the  insane 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  95 

hospitals  at  Constantinople  and  Amsterdam,  and  had 
drawn  a  comparison  to  their  favor  with  the  English 
asylums  of  his  day.  Simultaneously  in  France  and 
England,  in  the  year  1792,  a  new  movement  was 
originated  for  a  treatment  of  the  insane  based  upon 
the  theory  of  them  as  sick  human  beings  and  not  upon 
their  supposed  embodiment  of  perverse  demons. 
Philippe  Pinel,  influenced  by  Locke  and  Condillac,  Philippe 
had  studied  mental  disorders,  and  in  1789  had  com-  Pinel 
municated  the  result  of  his  researches  to  the  Societe 
Royale  de  la  Medecine,  which  in  1791  offered  a 
prize  for  the  best  treatise  on  the  care  of  the  insane. 
Pinel's  theories  attracted  the  attention  of  the  repub- 
lican commissioners  of  hospitals,  who  in  1792  placed 
him  in  charge  of  the  Bicetre.  After  overcoming 
much  opposition  from  the  commune  he  was  allowed 
to  try  his  methods,  and  within  the  week  had  stricken 
the  chains  from  the  first  fifty  insane  patients,  one  of 
whom  had  been  so  restrained  for  forty  years. 

In  the  same  year  William  Tuke,  an  English  mer-  William 
chant,  outraged  by  the  treatment  of  a  friend  in  the  Tuke 
York  Asylum,  arose  in  a  Friends'  meeting  and  advo- 
cated the   rational  treatment   of  the   insane.      His 
enthusiasm  won  support  and  through  the  efforts  of 
a  group  funds  were  raised  to  establish  the  York 
Retreat,  where  mental  disorder  was  for  the  first  time 
in  England  managed  by  pacific  methods. 

In  spite  of  the  success  of  the  methods  practiced  by 
Tuke  and  his  followers,  in  spite  of  reports  private 
and  public  upon  the  manifest  abuses  of  the  existing 


96 


TRADE  MORALS 


The  agita- 
tion for 
humanistic 
reform 


Typical 
cycle  of 
humanistic 
evolution 


Individual 
inception 

Propaga- 
tion by 
voluntary 
institutions 

Adoption 
by  a 
political 
institution 


institutions,  in  spite  of  reforms  put  in  practice  by  the 
more  mobile  French,  in  spite  of  the  notorious  cruel- 
ties of  the  existing  folk-custom  and  in  spite  of  agita- 
tion both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  it  was  not  until 
1839,  almost  half  a  century  later,  that  restraint  was 
abolished  in  the  Harwell  and  Bethlem  Asylums,  and 
not  till  1845  tnat  an  efficient  law  controlling  both 
public  and  private  asylums  was  enacted  by  Parlia- 
ment. From  that  time,  however,  the  humanistic  of 
kind  treatment  for  the  mentally  defective  has  been 
socially  on  the  ascendant;  so  that  the  cruelties  long 
made  right  by  folk-custom  have  been  definitely  dis- 
owned and  made  wrong  by  folkgroup  feeling. 

As  in  the  case  of  animals,  our  present  attitude 
toward  the  treatment  of  the  insane  is  the  outcome  of 
a  movement  in  popular  feeling  which  derived  its 
initial  impulse  from  an  individual,  moved  by  pity  for 
suffering  coming  out  of  the  maladjustment  of  a  folk- 
custom  to  present  environment.  The  next  step  was 
the  diffusion  of  antagonism  to  this  folk-custom 
through  the  agency  of  voluntary  subgroups,  respec- 
tively the  societies  for  the  suppression  of  cruelty  to 
animals,  the  Friends,  or  the  Societe  Royale  de  la 
Medecine.  These  are  institutions,  as  is  also 
another  body  socially  established,  the  Parliament  or 
Assembly.  To  the  law-making  institution  such 
movements  turn  for  support,  asking  it  to  create  a 
third  institution — a  statute — establishing  penalties 
to  supply  additional  motives  for  the  adoption  of  the 
humanistic  by  the  folkgroup.  The  Parliament 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  97 

moves  slowly;  it  is  representative  of  the  conservative 
folk-feeling  behind  the  folk-custom  as  well  as  of  the  Promotion 
class-feeling  behind  the  humanistic.     Early  legisla-  by  a  legal 
tion  favorable  to  a  humanistic  is  rarely  effective;  the  institution 
legislature  does  not  at  first  dare  to  make  it  thorough- 
going, for  it  has  the  support  of  folk-feeling  only  in 
part.    But  as  it  wins  popular  acceptance,  particularly 
among  the  subgroups  to  whom  the  masses  turn  for 
leadership,  it  becomes  practical  to  create  still  more 
solid   and   far-reaching   institutional   control;   until 
finally  the  humanistic  becomes  generally  approved 
by  folk-feeling,  and  in  large  measure  the  laws  en- 
force themselves. 

And  so  the  typical  cycle  of  humanistic  evolution  is ; 
its  conception  by  an  individual;  its  publication;  its 
propagation  and  diffusion  through  institutions.  Of 
these  there  were  (a)  the  voluntary  subgroups,  (b) 
a  political  institution,  the  legislature,  which  created 
(c)  a  third  institution,  a  law,  to  supply  motives  for 
folkgroup  conformity  with  the  ideal.  Fourthly,  reli-  Sanction  of 
gion,  another  already  existing  institution,  may  be-  a  Religious 
come  conscious  of  the  growing  favor  extended  to  the  institution 
humanistic  by  its  leading  minds,  may  adopt  it  as  a 
part  of  its  spiritual  message;  and  so  make  itself  an 
important  vehicle  in  its  spread;  because  of  its  capa- 
city to  join  Fear  with  Pity  as  motive  forces  for  the 
acceptance  of  the  humanistic  ideal.  When  by  such 
means  a  humanistic  has  become  thoroughly  em- 
bedded in  folk-feeling,  it  begins  to  possess  the 
attributes  of  a  folk-custom  and  is  consciously  recog- 


98 


TRADE  MORALS 


Contrast 

between 

folk-custom 

and 

humanistics 


Humanis- 
tics  grow 
through 
institutions 


nized  as  essential  to  the  sympathies,  if  not  to  the 
welfare,  of  the  folkgroup. 

While  a  folk-custom  is  derived  from  folkways  of 
which  the  group  was  once  unconscious,  but  which  it 
comes  to  feel  are  needful  to  group  welfare,  i.e.,  the 
adjustment  of  its  structure  to  its  environment,  a 
humanistic  is  a  growth  from  some  person's  con- 
sciousness of  a  conflict  between  the  welfare  of  indi- 
viduals with  some  folk-custom,  which  by  change  of 
the  structure  or  of  the  environment  of  the  group  is 
no  longer  needful  for  its  welfare. 

We  observe  further  that  the  mode  of  humanistic 
growth  and  diffusion  is  institutional  rather  than 
moral;  as  the  acme  of  conscious  nurtureways,  the 
most  thoroughly  conscious  means  are  used  both  for 
their  spread  and  maintenance.  The  institutions 
through  which  we  find  them  working  are  in  part 
voluntary  societies — to  repress  slavery,  to  help  the 
poor,  to  promote  education,  to  care  for  the  sick,  to 
aid  the  insane,  etc.;  and  in  part  quasi-public  institu- 
tions, almshouses,  hospitals,  public  schools  and 
libraries,  savings  banks,  insurance  funds,  etc. — 
which  were  originally  private  enterprises,  but  even- 
tually have  become  socialized,  i.e.,  publicly  adopted 
by  the  folkgroup  into  its  folk-custom.  The  service 
that  such  institutions  perform  is  primarily  for  indi- 
vidual welfare  and  is  quite  distinct  from  that  ren- 
dered to  group  welfare  by  public  institutions  growing 
directly  out  of  folk-custom  such  as  public  assemblies, 
courts,  jails,  police,  armies,  banks  of  issue,  stock  and 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  99 

produce    exchanges,    copartnerships,    trades   unions 
and  the  like. 

An  institution  is  therefore  an  organized  and  for-  Institutions 
mal  artifice  either  growing  out  of  folk-custom  or  as  Social 
formed  by  leading  minds  to  promote  humanistics,  artifices 
with  the   conscious  purpose  of  supplementing   and 
reinforcing    the    unorganized    and    almost    uncon- 
sciously exerted  "moral"  forces  of  approbation  and 
reprobation  by  which  folkgroups  endeavor  to  make 
conduct  accord  with  their  folk-customs.    The  device 
in  its  developed  form  is  a  subgroup  created  by  pri- 
vate enterprise  or  commanded  by  public  enactment, 
with  the  idea  of  bringing  to  bear  concurrent  forces 
of    co-operation,    organization    and    persistence    in 
support  of  the  uniform  practice  of  a  folk-custom  or 
to  enlarge  the  acceptance  of  a  humanistic  as  the  case 
may  be. 

In  the  dim  twilight  of  primitive  social  structure, 
we  can  always  recognize  the  shadowy  form  of  some  The  insti- 
joint  effort,  on  the  part  of  the  folkgroup,  to  express  tution  of 
the  sentiments  growing  out  of  its  attempt  to  imagine  Religion 
and   interpret   the   powers   of   nature   by   which    it 
is  surrounded.      Savage  men  appreciate   fully  that 
they  are  in  the  grip  of  their  surroundings;  and  that 
powers  which  they  cannot  fully  understand  hold  in 
strict  limitation  their  capacity  of  existence  and  enjoy-  Originally 
ment.     The  human  mind  seems   always  to  try  to  an  explana- 
explain  these  phenomena,  and  as  it  has  only  recently  tion  of 
acquired   the    concept   of   natural    forces   its   early  natural 
attempts  at  explanation  are  always  along  the  lines  Pnenomena 


100 


TRADE  MORALS 


Consistent 
with  the 
knowledge 
of  its  day 


Its  organi- 
zation of 
the  fear 
motive 


of  myth;  that  is  to  say,  by  the  attribution  of  these 
powers  to  unseen  persons  not  unlike  ourselves,  super- 
natural, but  who  dwell  in  nature  and  control  its 
forces.  This  line  of  development  is  aided  by  a 
tendency  of  the  savage  mind  to  attribute  an  incor- 
poreal and  immortal  essence  to  the  dead  or  to 
natural  objects;  a  state  of  mind  fostered  by  their 
apparition  in  dreams;  and  doubtless  superinduced 
in  a  state  of  barbarism  by  folkways  of  irregular 
feeding  and  of  intermittent  periods  of  exercise 
and  repose  which  are  conducive  to  disorders  in  the 
circulation  of  the  blood.  For  primitive  man  to 
believe  in  the  supernatural  is  in  fact  as  rational  as 
for  us  to  deny  it.  The  religious  and  scientific 
rational  processes  of  each  social  or  cultural  phase, 
and  the  conduct  which  arises  from  them,  are  always 
considered  superstitious  or  irrational  by  men  who 
have  progressed  onward  into  higher  phases. 

As  compared  to  human  powers,  the  powers 
deemed  supernatural  are  infinite  in  magnitude;  and 
the  fear  they  inspire  leads  to  a  desire  for  their 
propitiation.  Sacrifices  and  worship  are  the  efforts 
to  express  that  propitiation.  The  example  of  in- 
creased efficiency  gained  for  the  folkgroup  through 
concurrence  in  its  folk-customs  must  have  been 
apparent  to  men  in  the  early  phases  of  the  social 
structure,  and  some,  at  least,  saw  the  value  of  the 
fear  of  the  supernatural  already  established  in  their 
folkways,  if  institutionalized,  in  supplementing  the 
less  organized  forces  of  social  approbation  or  repro- 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  101 

bation  by  which  they  were  endeavoring  to   secure 
uniformity  of  moral  conduct. 

In  their  turn  religious  institutions  made  use  of  the 
same  principle  of  concurrence.     Their  priests  early 
observed  the  psychic  value  of  the  rhythmic  expres- 
sion of  emotion,  many  times  multiplied  in  its  effect  And  of  the 
upon  the  participant  when  manifested  at  the  same  rhythm  of 
time    by    an    entire    congregation.      Churches    and  emotion 
rituals  are  therefore  effective  means  when  directed 
to  moral  ends,  and  to  this  purpose  a  large  part  of 
their  service  is  applied  in  lower  social  phases  where 
other  institutional  forces  are  wanting. 

So  long  as  religion  can  sustain  in  men  the  idea  that 
they  are  accountable  to  powers  greater  than  them- 
selves, its  potency  in  the  enforcement  of  moral  duties  Conditions 
is  enormous;  but  it  parts  with  this  power  in  propor-  of  its 
tion  as  it  may  persist  in  the  maintenance  of  doctrines  ascendency 
not  in  accord  with  the  folk-feeling  of  the  time.  A 
man  who  denies  the  efficacy  of  magical  rites  in  cast- 
ing out  devils  from  a  sick  person,  or  doubts  the  value 
of  a  sacrifice  to  the  Deity  in  insuring  a  harvest,  is 
not  likely  to  be  much  impressed  with  the  moral  teach- 
ings of  those  who  insist  upon  the  acceptance  of  such 
beliefs  as  essential  to  salvation.  No  more  in  morals 
than  in  dogma  does  religion  represent  immutable 
truth.  It  commends  at  one  period  conduct  which  at 
another  it  reprobates.  Judged  by  its  then  standard 
David  and  Solomon  were  excellent  men;  but  imagine 
them  applying  for  church  membership  today!  The 
same  support  which  religion  gives  to  morals  it 


102 


TRADE  MORALS 


Substitution 
of  means 
for  ends 


Political 
institutions 


accords  to  the  now  obsolete  body  of  scientific  doc- 
trine, in  which  men  once  found  an  explanation  of  the 
universe.  The  devout  exalt  the  ritual,  which  is  a 
means,  to  the  same  level  as  its  ends,  and  resist  change 
by  whatever  social  powers  they  may  possess;  thus 
from  the  second  century  idolatry  was  formally 
classed  by  the  hierarchy  with  murder  and  adultery 
as  a  mortal  sin.  The  churchmen  of  Mary's  time 
had  as  little  compunction  about  burning  a  Protestant 
as  those  of  Elizabeth's  had  in  torturing  a  Catholic; 
the  Pilgrim  divines  punished  Antinomians  by  exile 
and  Quakers  at  the  whipping  post — and  all  for  mere 
differences  of  opinion  about  matters  of  little  impor- 
tance to  folkgroup  welfare. 

Closely  allied  to  the  religious  type  of  institution 
is  that  of  the  political.  The  patriarchal  family 
seems  early  to  have  proved  its  better  fitness  for  sur- 
vival than  the  matriarchal  type;  and  the  tribal  exi- 
gencies of  military  efficiency  tended  to  develop  the 
chief  or  king  as  its  leader  in  the  almost  constant 
warfare  in  which  tribes  are  engaged.  In  discover- 
ing and  carrying  out  the  will  of  the  tribe,  the  funda- 
mental political  folk-custom  of  assembly  or  mass 
meeting  was  evolved  from  the  clan  custom  previ- 
ously prevailing;  and  from  this  folk-custom  as  a 
basis  arose  a  fundamental  type  of  political  institu- 
tion such  as  the  landesgemeinde,  folkmote,  council 
or  other  form  of  deliberative  assembly;  to  meet, 
discuss  and  deliberate  over  the  tribal  needs  of  the 
folkgroup,  and  to  provide  means  for  defense  and 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  103 

offense.    The  outcome  of  such  needs  was  a  primitive 
secondary  institution,  the  army. 

By  the  time  that  nations  had  been  formed  from 
the  tribal  groups,  men  had  discovered  the  value  of 
institutions  and  that  they  could  be  organized  by  the   Organiza- 
royal  authority  or  through  the  fundamental  political  tions  of 
institution ;  which  through  the  inconvenience  of  mass  institutions 
meetings  for  a  scattered  population  soon  developed  by  institu- 
into  a  representative  assembly,  witenagemot,   diet,  * 
folkthing  or  parliament.     In  nations  peace-customs 
develop  rapidly  through  the  necessities  of  the  grow- 
ing industrial  life.     The  primitive   remedy,   estab- 
lished  by   early   folk-custom    for   torts   or   wrongs 
committed  by  one  person  upon   another,   is  blood  Primitive 
revenge;  a  right  of  retaliation  by  the  victim's  family  right  of 
or  his  kinship  group  exerted  against  the  group  to  private 
which  the  offender  belonged.     Punishment  for  theft,  vengeance 
for  instance,  was  originally  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
despoiled,  and  consisted  either  of  reparation  from 
the  family  of  the  thief  or  of  his  pursuit,  capture  and 
death.     The  custom  of  private  vengeance  or  blood 
revenge    has    survived    even    in    civilized    nations 
amongst  some  subgroups,   as  is  exemplified  in  the 
duel,  not  yet  obsolete  in  Europe,  in  lynch  law,  or  in 
the  blood  feuds  of  our  own  Tennessee  mountains. 

Blood  revenge  and  its  resultant  feuds  were  both 
destructive  of  the  strength  in  war  of  the  folk- 
groups  wherein  it  was  most  prevalent,  and  in  a  high 
degree  injurious  to  the  growth  of  industrial  sub- 
groups, which  needed  internal  peace  for  the  practice 


104 


TRADE  MORALS 


Blood 
revenge  a 
clog  upon 
group 
efficiency 


Laws  and 

Courts 

derived 

from 

folk-custom 


of  their  crafts.  It  was  found  that  theft,  murder  and 
other  personal  wrongs  could  be  more  efficiently 
suppressed  and  punished  by  the  folkgroup  acting  as 
a  unit,  through  constituted  tribal  authority.  Thus 
three  conditions  were  always  working  to  give  greater 
military  and  industrial  efficiency  to  tribes  who  used 
this  means  of  eliminating  the  right  of  private  ven- 
geance from  their  folk-custom.  The  king's  justice, 
at  first  directly  exercised,  did  the  people's  will  upon 
wrongdoers.  In  the  more  diffused  populations  of 
the  larger  tribes  the  king's  authority  must  needs  be 
delegated  to  judges;  and  to  procure  uniformity  of 
justice,  statutes  defining  the  offense  and  stating  the 
punishment  established  by  folk-custom  were  insti- 
tuted by  the  assembly  or  proclaimed  by  the  king. 

In  its  primitive  form,  therefore,  a  statute  of  law 
is  only  a  reduction  to  writing  of  a  folk-custom.  For 
peaceable  and  orderly  enforcement  over  a  large 
territory  it  involves  the  institution  of  a  law  court, 
with  judges  to  hear  complaints  and  to  give  judg- 
ments; with  sheriffs  or  jailers  to  execute  them;  and 
behind  all  a  king  and  army  providing  an  irresistible 
power  to  enforce  the  decisions  rendered.  By  such 
institutions  was  the  king's  justice  substituted  for 
blood  revenge;  an  orderly  for  a  disorderly  process 
of  punishment;  and  each  of  the  dominant  elements 
in  the  folkgroup  was  given  what  it  needed — greater 
efficiency  to  the  war  group  in  war,  and  peace  con- 
ditions for  the  growing  group  of  industrial  workers. 
The  penalties  of  the  written  law  and  of  the  unwritten 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  105 

folk-custom  were  alike;  but  carried  out  by  the  irre- 
sistible and  impartial  force  of  the  folkgroup  instead 
of  by  the  angry  hand  of  the  victim  or  his  clan. 

By  degrees  the  association  of  legal  remedies  and  Evolution 
penalties  with  offenses  against  the  person  or  against  of  Public 
his  property  led  to  their  recognition  as  crimes  against  Law 
the  peace  of  the  folkgroup  instead  of  wrongs  against 
the  victim  or  his  clan.     In  place,  therefore,  of  draw- 
ing the  complaint  for  a  wrong  done  to  the  aggrieved 
person  the  action  is  brought  against  the  offender  in 
the  name  of  the  State  itself,  which  alone  assumes 
responsibility  for  the  punishment  of  the  offender. 
The  body  of  folk-custom  which  regulates  the  rela- 
tions of  the  State  with  its  citizens  is  known  as  public 
law  and  is  primarily  a  code  declaring  what  are  the   Law  as  de- 
peace-customs  of  the  folkgroup,  set  down  in  writing  claratory  of 
so  as  to  avoid  dispute  and  enforce  uniform  penalties,   folk-custom 
In  the  course  of  time  public  law  has  been  extended  by 
statutes   enacted   by   royal    authority   or   by   public 
assemblies,  to  cover  many  other  moral  and  economic 
relations  of  the  citizens  to  the  State  beside  breaches 
of  peace-custom,  but  it  remains  a  written  law. 

The  discovery  of  the  potency  of  legal  institutions 
in  enforcing  the  criminal  law  led  to  their  use  in 
another  direction.  If  one  class  of  folk-custom  could 
be  reduced  to  writing  and  enforced  by  the  courts, 
why  not  others?  In  the  almost  constant  intertribal 
conflicts  many  were  the  victories  that  led  to  the  con- 
quest of  one  folkgroup  by  another;  and  when  two 
had  intermingled  there  was  always  a  question  as  to 


106 


TRADE  MORALS 


Law  as  which  folk-custom  should  prevail.  This  confusion 
compro-  led  to  conflicts  between  two  bodies  of  folk-customs  in 
mise  of  which  it  often  happened  that  the  conquerors  con- 
ceded the  superiority  of  some  of  those  of  the  con- 
quered as  well  as  insisted  upon  the  observance  of 
some  of  their  own.  Disputes  arose  as  to  the  pre- 
scribed conduct  which  according  to  folk-custom  one 
member  of  the  consolidated  folkgroup  had  the  right 
to  expect  from  one  of  his  fellows.  Once  courts  had 
been  established  for  the  enforcement  of  the  king's 
peace,  the  machinery  which  they  supplied  could 
naturally  be  used  to  settle  a  dispute  of  this  nature, 
with  the  result  that  their  jurisdiction  was  extended 
from  the  public  law  which  they  already  enforced  to 
that  of  private  law. 

While  public  law  is  the  body  of  folk-custom  regu- 
lating the  relations  of  citizens  and  the  State,  private 
Private  Law  law,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  body  of  folk-custom 
regulating  the  conduct  of  citizens  toward  each  other 
together  with  the  principles  by  which  courts  have 
endeavored  to  classify  them.     In  the  main,  private 
law  is  unwritten — and  the  dispute  of  the  contestants 
is,  therefore,  as  to  what  conduct,  according  to  folk- 
custom,  has  each  a  reasonable  right  to  expect  from 
The  ideal      the  other — and  the  ideal  of  such  conduct  becomes 
of  Justice      generalized  in  men's  minds  under  the  names  of  jus- 
tice, equity  or  right. 

This  unwritten,  or  as  it  is  known  among  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples,  common,  law  is,  therefore,  well  de- 
scribed as  "the  product  of  the  wisdom,  counsel  and 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  107 

experience    of   many   ages   of   wise   and   observing  The 
men";  and  attempts  to  write  and  codify  it  have  in   Common 
large  measure  resulted  in  confusion.     Through  its  Law,  its 
derivation   and   capacity   for   enforcement   through  flexibllty 
evidence  and  discussion  in  the  courts,  the  common 
law,    especially    in    great    matters,    is    reasonably 
approximate  in  force  and  flexibility  to  folk-feeling 
itself.     On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  beyond  the 
capacity  of  the  human  intellect  to  write  down  rules 
which  shall  take  into  account  the  infinite  variety  of 
human  conduct  covered  by  the  folk-custom  of  all  the 
groups,  and  which  either  has  happened,  is  happening 
or  may  happen.    And  equally  is  it  impossible  to  con- 
struct a  code  flexible  enough  to  keep  pace  with  the 
changes  which  are  wrought  in  folk-custom  by  the 
continually  recurring  changes  in  the  structure  and  Inflexibility 
environment  of  the  folkgroup  and  of  its  constituent  of  codes 
subgroups. 

Existing  codes  of  private  or  common  law,  such 
as  have  been  attempted  in  the  countries  which  derive 
their  jurisprudence  from  the  Romans,  can  cover  only 
a  small  fraction  of  the  conduct  prescribed  by  folk- 
custom.  The  incidents  treated  are  mainly  those 
about  which  disputes  have  already  occurred,  or 
which  have  been  occasioned  by  conflicts  between  the 
folk-customs  of  different  folkgroups  merged  by  con- 
quest or  colonization.  The  laws  of  Moses,  Solon 
and  Lycurgus — the  earliest  of  codes — have  to  do 
exclusively  with  private  law  and  had  the  purpose  of 
effecting  the  adjustment  of  conflicts  of  interest  which 


108 


TRADE  MORALS 


had  arisen  between  different  subgroups  in  their  re- 
spective states.  The  codes  of  the  Barbarians  com- 
piled in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  adjusted  the  rela- 
tions between  the  provincial  Romans  and  the  rude 
tribes  by  whom  they  had  been  overrun;  so  that  the 
conduct  of  the  members  of  the  subject  folkgroup 
toward  each  other  could  still  be  regulated  by  their 
milder  folk-customs,  while  their  demeanor  toward 
the  master  folkgroups  was  controlled  by  the  Salic, 
Gothic  or  Hunnish  law  imposed  by  the  conquering 
race. 

Law  as  an          Law   and  its   Courts,   therefore,   are   institutions 
institution      whose  main  function  is  to  establish  in  a  more  or 
less  fixed  form,  precepts  drawn  from  folk-custom. 
They  prescribe  for  the  members  of  the  folkgroup 
courses  of  conduct  in  accordance  with  folk-custom 
and  fix  penalties   for  nonconformance.     They   are 
primarily   devices    of   the    folkgroup    (a)    for    de- 
termining  what    is    folk-custom,    (b)     for   judging 
Devised  to     whether   conduct    accords   or   disagrees   with    folk- 
crystallize      custom,   (c)    for  substituting  folk-penalties  in  place 
folk-custom   of    private    vengeance    in    case    of    transgression, 
and  (d)  for  furnishing  its  members  with  organized 
and  uniform   series  of  motives,   additional  to   the 
ordinary  moral  approvals  and  condemnations  exer- 
cised through  public  opinion,   for  conformity  with 
its  will. 

The  class  of  wrongful  conduct  initially  made 
criminal  by  statute,  including  such  offenses  as 
murder,  arson,  rape,  burglary  and  the  like,  is  known 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  109 

to  jurists  as  mala  in  se — that  is  to  say,  it  would  be 
condemned  by  folk-custom  even  if  there  were  no 
written  laws.  Another  class  is  that  in  which  are 
placed  acts  not  so  condemned  and  only  wrong  be- 
cause the  law  has  made  them  so.  Such  acts  in  law 
are  known  as  mala  prohibita.  In  the  course  of  time 
some  of  them,  like  smuggling,  piracy,  perjury  and 
drunkenness,  while  originally  regarded  with  indiffer- 
ence, have  become  to  be  generally  condemned  by 
folk-custom.  Others,  such  as  relate  to  liquor  selling, 
trespass,  profanity,  building  regulations,  Sunday 
observance,  speed  limits,  etc.,  are  either  statutized 
class-custom  or  artificial  creations  of  the  legislature; 
as  such  but  imperfectly  adopted  by  folk-custom,  and 
their  infractions  not  necessarily  recognized  as 
morally  wrong.  To  classify  them  we  might  almost 
adopt  the  continental  term  and  call  them  contra- 
ventions. 

The  supposed  potency  of  written  laws  has  given 
rise  to  the  superstition,  peculiarly  characteristic  of  Superstition 
American  politics,  that  a  folk-custom  can  be  created  of  the  om- 
by  any  man  if  he  can  only  write  it  into  a  law  and  get  nipotence 
it  enacted  by  a  legislature.   Nevertheless,  such  efforts  °  *aw 
to  accomplish  a  change  of  conduct  by  writing  and 
enacting  laws  not  declaratory  of  existing  folk-custom 
are  largely  unsuccessful,  even  when  supported  by  the 
party  in  power  of  the  day.     For  strong  as  is  the 
institution  of  the  law,  it  is  weak  as  compared  with  the 
tremendous  force  of  folk-custom,  which  rests  succes- 
sively on  ideals  ingrained  in  man's  sentimental  nature 


110 


TRADE  MORALS 


Moral 
confusion 


Emotional 
sources  of 
morals 


Conscience 
a  subjective 
adjunct  to 
morals 


by  life-long  moral  training,  on  the  century-long 
folkway  habits,  and  on  the  instincts  inherited  from 
sources  anterior  to  man.  When  such  a  law  conflicts 
with  folk-custom  a  moral  confusion  is  created,  every- 
one doubting  whether  the  statute  or  folk-feeling 
more  correctly  expresses  the  obligations  involved. 
Such  moral  conflicts  are  not  good  for  the  supremacy 
of  the  law;  for  one  unenforceable  statute  tends  to 
bring  all  law  into  contempt,  as  well  as  to  encourage 
law-breakers.  Moral  confusion  is  not  good  for 
morals;  for  the  impulses  to  conduct  are  found  pri- 
marily in  the  emotions  excited  by  the  notions  of  right 
and  wrong  derived  from  folk-custom  and  humanis- 
tics.  The  approbation  which  every  member  of  the 
folkgroup  feels  and  expresses  for  right  conduct  is 
emotional;  the  condemnation  which  everyone  feels 
and  expresses  against  a  wrong  is  emotional ;  few  take 
time  or  trouble  to  do  much  reasoning,  or  make  much 
inquiry  when  they  see  a  man  beating  a  woman,  or  a 
thief  running  away  with  a  purse;  and  resentment 
springs  unbidden  in  the  mind  of  him  who  detects  a 
swindle. 

The  personal  or  subjective  mental  faculty  by 
which  our  moral  emotions  of  resentment  or  praise 
are  aided  in  the  determination  of  our  moral  duties 
is  called  conscience.  Conscience  is  a  general  name 
for  the  aggregate  of  a  man's  convictions  as  to  his 
moral  obligations.  Whether  inheritance  plays  some 
part  in  the  formation  of  this  faculty  or  whether  it  is 
the  outcome  of  youthful  training,  unconscious  imita- 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  111 

tion  and  the  constant  and  potent  coercion  of  the 
social  group  is  immaterial  to  this  discussion.  We 
know  that  in  either  event  it  is  by  no  means  uniform 
or  clear  in  its  dictates,  potent  though  they  are  with 
regard  to  many  fundamental  social  necessities.  Like 
the  society,  and  like  the  conduct  to  which  it  applies, 
it  is  itself  the  subject  of  growth  and  change.  It  will 
not  allow  a  young  Australian,  during  the  ceremony 
of  initiation  into  manhood,  to  eat  a  female  opossum, 
which  is  considered  a  great  delicacy,  no  matter  how  Inconsist- 
hungry  or  how  much  alone  he  may  be.  It  enjoins  encies  of 
one  man  from  going  to  the  theater;  it  forbids  conscience 
another  to  allow  a  good  play  to  come  to  town  with- 
out taking  his  wife  to  see  it.  It  permits  one  man  to 
stay  away  from  church  and  forbids  another  to  do  so. 
"Our  consciences  are  absolutely  indifferent  when  we 
sit  down  to  a  beefsteak  but  a  Hindoo's  would  suffer 
agonies."  Conscience  would  not  prevent  a  Jew  of 
the  kingdoms  from  marrying  several  wives  nor  a 
Christian  priest  of  the  tenth  century  from  keeping  a 
concubine,  but  the  consciences  of  modern  Jews  and 
modern  priests  have  acknowledged  wholly  contrary 
mandates.  All  that  we  can  say  of  conscience  is  that, 
as  a  general  rule,  it  will  guide  us  to  doing  what  is  Its 
considered  right  in  our  age  and  community.  While  limitations 
the  best  men  have  the  most  sensitive  consciences,  the 
worst  have  hardly  any  conscience.  And  where  there 
is  confusion  arising  from  the  conflict  between  cus- 
toms, or  of  customs  and  humanistics,  conscience  is  by 
no  means  a  certain  guide  to  duty. 


112 


TRADE  MORALS 


Religion 
and  Law 
lag  behind 
folk-custom 


A  twilight 
zone  of 
moral 
conduct 


The 

aleatory 

folkway 


It  is  characteristic  of  both  religion  and  law,  as 
moral  adjuncts,  that  they  generally  lag  behind  the 
folk-custom  from  which  they  are  derived.  They  are 
less  sensitive  to  change  in  the  ideals  of  folkgroup 
welfare  than  is  the  folk-feeling,  or  public  sentiment, 
which  is  everywhere  recognized  as  the  most  potent 
and  flexible  of  all  incitations  to  conduct.  While  in 
the  main  there  is  agreement  between  all  these  poten- 
cies as  to  what  conduct  should  be  expected  of  men  in 
given  situations,  yet  there  is  a  twilight  zone  of  acts 
in  which  the  commands  of  one  agency  may  be  more 
or  less  contradictory  to  those  of  another.  Thus 
gambling  has  for  years  been  contrary  to  law,  and 
nevertheless  it  has  been  recognized  accessory  to 
church  entertainments;  whilst  the  aleatory  instinct 
is  so  strong  among  the  masses  that  we  cannot  say 
without  qualification  that  it  is  condemned  by  folk- 
custom.  Neither  does  conscience  in  any  degree  seem 
to  class  gambling  among  the  criminal  acts;  in  large 
measure  farmers,  producers  and  business  men  are 
obliged  every  year  to  take  gambling  chances  in  the 
natural  course  of  their  vocations.  If  away  from 
home  on  a  holiday  most  men  have  no  compunctions 
in  playing  the  horses,  or  even  staking  modest  sums 
at  the  roulette  wheel,  which  if  confined  within  limits 
proportioned  to  their  fortunes  is  not  generally  con- 
demned. 

Gambling  is  but  one  of  a  class  of  conduct  within 
the  penumbra  of  moral  confusion.  Speculation,  the 
use  of  stimulants,  tobacco  smoking,  horse  racing, 


MORAL  ADJUNCTS  113 

card    playing,    divorce,    factors    agreements,    price   Other 
restriction,  etc.,  are  not  definitely  and  clearly  dealt  conduct  in 
with  by  folk-custom,  humanistics  or  by  the  moral  tne  shadow 
adjuncts.     For  such  acts,  together  with  many  other  °/  confu~ 
items  of  business  conduct,  there  is  no  settled  moral  s 
rule ;  a  great  obstacle  to  perfect  moral  conduct  on  the 
part  even  of  the  best  intentioned. 

The  impulses  to  conduct  afforded  by  conscience  are 
the  outcome  of  personal  or  subjective  feeling;  those   Emotional 
put  forward  by  folk-custom  are  controlled  by  folk-  impulse  to 
feeling  or  public  sentiment;  those  which  arise  from   conduct 
class-custom  are  due  to  subgroup  feelings;  the  force 
of  religion  as  an  adjunct  is  emotional;  that  of  the 
law    largely    so,    although    devised    by    reasoning. 
Moral  conduct  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  emotions  so 
far  as  it  is  under  the  influence  of  impulses  which  are 
so  plainly  outlined  as  to  be  definite.     But  while  emo- 
tion may  be  considered  as  the  engine  which  drives  Need  of 
the  ship  of  human  conduct,  it  needs  rational  intelli-  rational 
gence  as  a  helmsman  to  keep  it  on  its  course  and  to  guidance 
avoid  obstacles;  and  such  guidance  is  to  be  asked 
from  the  science  of  ethics.    It  is,  therefore,  the  busi- 
ness of  ethics  to  consider  further  what  is  needed  for   Function 
the  determination  of  right  conduct  and  to  offer  a  way  of  ethics 
out  of  the  confusion  arising  out  of  the  conflictions 
which  arise  between  (a)  the  customs  of  one  group  or 
of  one  folkgroup  and  those  of  another,  (b)  between 
folkways   and   folk-customs,    (c)    between   folk-cus-  The 
toms   and   humanistics,   and    (d)    between   each   of  conflictions 
these  and  their  servants,  law  and  religion.    To  man,   stated 


114  TRADE  MORALS 

the  agent,  the  function  of  the  science  is  to  give  a 
guide  to  conscience,  so  that  he  may  fit  his  conduct  to 
the  social,  economic  and  moral  environment  in  which 
he  finds  himself. 
Summary  We  have  now  learned : 

A.  That  in  the  evolution  of  humanistics — con- 
duct arising  from  pity — there  are  these  steps : 

1 i )  The  primary  impulse  of  the  compassionate 
individual,  communicated 

(2)  To  a  subgroup,  often  specially  organized, 
and  thence 

(3)  By  institutions,  and  finally 

(4)  By  folk-feeling,  the  source  of  morals. 

B.  That  there   are  two   chief  institutional   ad- 
juncts to  morals: 

1 i )  Law. 

(2)  Religion. 

C.  And  one  subjective  or  personal  adjunct,  Con- 
science. 

D.  That  all  of  these  except  the  law  are  essen- 
tially the  outcome  of  the  emotions. 

E.  That  while  these  are  aids  to  right  conduct 
there  arise  cases  in  which  they  are  not  certain  guides 
in  conflicts  between  the  precepts  of  custom,  human- 
istics, law  and  religion. 

F.  That  we  must  look  further  for  a  rational 
guide  to  conduct;  and  that  if  ethics  be  a  science  we 
may  find  it  there. 


VII 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL:  ITS 
REGULATION  OF  THE  IMPULSES 

Regarding  moral  acts  as  conditioned  by  the  social 
life  of  which  they  are  the  outcome,  we  have  now 
surveyed  the  structure  of  society  in  its  evolution 
from  its  fundamental  or  atomic  group,  the  family, 
through  the  various  phases — clan,  tribe  and  nation 
— by  which  the  gradual  development  of  civilization 
can  be  marked.  We  have  seen  that  acts  themselves 
can  also  be  classified  into  modes  common  to  all  life; 
that  anterior  to  the  development  in  living  creatures  Natureways 
of  a  reasoning  brain  their  behavior  is  actuated  along 
common  lines  by  three  sets  of  forces — physical, 
reflexive  and  instinctive — which  ( I )  are  inherent  in 
the  constitution  of  matter  and  life,  (2)  exert  them- 
selves unconsciously  in  the  agent  as  a  consequence  of 
natural  laws  of  which  he  is  ignorant,  (3)  are  trans- 
mitted from  generation  to  generation  by  inheritance, 
and  (4)  serve  to  adapt  the  structure  of  the  agent  to 
the  environment  by  which  he  is  surrounded.  As 
these  three  modes  of  action  are  never  consciously 
acquired  and  seem  to  be  the  issue  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  we  have  classified  them  for  convenience  as 
natureways. 

And  we  have  further  found  that  in  that  highest  of 
living  creatures,  man,  in  whom  has  been  developed 


116 


TRADE  MORALS 


a  brain  capable  of  comparing  and  classifying  things 
Nurture-  and  acts,  there  are  likewise  uniformities  of  conduct, 
ways  also  capable  of  recognition  as  persistent  phases 

throughout  human  social  life.  These  uniformities 
result  from  impulses  derived  in  the  main  from  five 
motive  sources,  hunger,  love,  vanity,  fear  and  pity, 
which  are  themselves  based  upon  the  constitution  of 
man's  nervous  system.  The  modes  of  action  char- 
acteristic of  the  three  phases  into  which  the  resultant 
conduct  can  be  classified  are  ( i )  exerted  with  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  consciousness  by  the  agent, 
(2)  always  acquired,  (3)  never  inherited,  and  (4) 
serve  to  adapt  the  structure  of  social  groups  to 
their  environmental  conditions.  They  fit  the  defini- 
tion of  conduct  as  conscious  action  adjusted  to  ends. 
As  the  outcome  of  education  and  imitation  they  may 
be  grouped  together  as  nurtureways. 

We  may  learn  something  of  the  relative  values 
of  the  motive  forces  behind  the  nurtureways  by  a 
The  motive  brief  consideration  of  their  origin  and  constitution, 
sources  of  The  sequence  of  their  evolution  is  doubtless  fairly 
Nurture-  well  indicated  by  the  order  in  which  they  are  named, 
ways  Hunger  is  a  sensation  arising  from  a  set  of  reflexes, 

which  in  turn  are  evoked  by  physical  forces.  Feed- 
ing, its  active  functional  expression,  is  needful  for 
all  life  however  low.  Love  is  an  emotion  arising  out 
of  an  instinct,  which  may  be  plainly  derived  from 
reflexive  impulses,  and  therefore  is  one  step,  in  evo- 
lution, above  the  hunger  motive.  Vanity  and  fear 
also  are  the  emotional  expression  of  instincts;  but 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        117 

instincts  evidently  less  fundamental  than  either  hun- 
ger or  love;  later  in  development,  they  are  only  to 
be  observed  in  the  higher  animals  and  in  man.  Pity 
is  a  much  more  complex  emotional  state,  the  product 
of  the  tender  emotion  tinged  with  sympathetically 
induced  pain.  While  pity  may  have  its  foothold  in 
the  upper  strata  of  animal  life,  itself  it  is  peculiarly 
human,  and  in  its  present  degree  of  development 
even  here  a  recent  product. 

All  of  these  five  motives  psychologically  consid- 
ered are  produced  by  impulses  traveling  along  the 
network  of  fibrillated  cells  of  which  the  human 
nervous  and  mental  system  is  composed.  It  is  a 
peculiarity  of  this  system  that  every  repetition  of  an  Habit 
impulse  along  these  ropes  or  cords  of  nerve  tissue 
makes  it  easier  for  another  of  the  same  sort  to 
pass  the  same  way.  Habitual  use  along  certain  con- 
necting lines  makes  future  use  along  the  same  lines 
easier;  just  as  on  the  railway,  a  constant  service  on 
one  route,  composed  maybe  of  a  dozen  different 
main  lines  and  branches,  not  only  induces  increased 
patronage  on  the  part  of  travelers,  but  becomes 
simpler  to  manage  through  the  training  of  the  habits 
of  all  the  engineers,  conductors,  signalmen  and 
switchmen  along  the  line.  Settled  tendencies  to  re- 
produce acts  already  several  times  repeated  form 
habits,  which  as  sources  of  motive  impulses  tend  to 
increase  in  power  in  direct  ratio  to  their  repetition. 

In  human  conduct,  therefore,  it  is  always  easier 
for  us  to  do  and  think  as  innumerable  generations 


118 


TRADE  MORALS 


Power  of 
the 

primitive 
modes  of 
behavior 


Feebleness 
of  higher 
emotions  in 
primitive 
peoples 


of  our  remote  ancestors  have  done  and  thought. 
The  strength  and  persistence  of  our  conduct-motives 
are  in  direct  proportion  to  the  priority  of  their 
origin.  No  impulse  to  our  conduct  is  as  strong  as 
that  of  hunger,  a  sensation  which  descends  to  us 
from  the  zoophytes;  and  next  to  that  love,  which  is 
at  least  as  old  as  the  vertebrates. 

Fear  is  feeble  or  unnoticeable  in  the  lower  ani- 
mals, and  vanity  is  perceptible  in  only  a  few  of  the 
higher  vertebrates.  As  to  pity,  it  is  an  emotional  co- 
ordination characteristically  human,  though  its  foot- 
prints may  perhaps  be  faintly  traced  in  the  parental 
instinct  shown  by  some  of  the  upper  orders  of 
animalkind. 

A  similar  course  of  development  runs  through 
the  social  life  of  man.  The  conduct  of  primitive 
man  is  to  a  large  degree  under  the  influence  of  his 
physical  needs;  he  more  often  feels  hunger,  more 
imperiously  is  impelled  to  reproduction  than  his 
civilized  descendant.  Savages  know  less  of  fear, 
and  while  they  may  display  vanity  in  a  crude  and 
conspicuous  way,  its  reactions  are  less  thorough- 
going than  in  our  more  complex  social  life.  Pity 
with  them  is  weak  even  within  family  or  consan- 
guineous lines;  they  have  little  regard  for  human 
life  or  suffering,  and  none  whatever  for  that  of  the 
birds  or  beasts.  In  a  word  we  may  observe  that  the 
later,  and  as  we  are  accustomed  to  say  higher, 
motives  grow  fainter  as  we  descend  through  the 
biological  phases  of  the  whole  evolution  of  life. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        119 

And  we  may  further  observe  so  far  as  proportions 
are  concerned  that  as  we  ascend  the  evolutionary 
scale  these  feebler  impulses  form  an  increasing  part 
of  the  whole  motive  mixture  in  direct  ratio  to  the 
development  of  the  nervous  and  mental  systems  by 
which  they  are  felt,  and  through  which  they  act. 

Nevertheless,  we  cannot  evade  the  question,  Why 
is  it  that  we  do  not  place  the  satisfaction  of  the 
interests  arising  from  these  prior,  stronger,  agelong, 
natureway  forces  first,  and,  disregarding  all  other 
considerations,  proceed  directly  and  everywhere  to  Restraint 
gratify  them   in  the   order   of  their   intensity   and  of  lower 
origin?    Why  in  our  present  social  phase  should  not  impulses 
the  stimulations  of  the  hunger  and  love  motives,  for 
instance,  invariably  supersede  all  later  and  feebler 
incitements  to  action,  since  they  arise  distinctly  out 
of  the  natureways,  and  should  be,  as  they  are,  most 
fully  and  completely  amalgamated  with  our  natures 
by  longest  continued  habitual  exercise? 

It  is  true  that  the  primitive  motives  underlying 
natureways   indeed   form   the  main  tracks  of  our 
nervous  railway  systems,  but  in  the  course  of  time 
we  have  built  up  by  means  of  nurtureways  an  almost 
infinite  network  of  branch  and  connecting  lines,  all  of 
which  serve  important  districts  of  the  broad  and  Inhibition 
well-developed  area  of  our  minds;  and  at  innumer-  through 
able  junction  stations  our  hunger  and  love  mainline  distraction 
trains  have  to  stop  to  make  connections,   and  to 
interchange   traffic  with   these   numerous  branches. 
For  this  reason  our  trunk  line  is  so  crowded  that 


120 


TRADE  MORALS 


In  society 
weaker 
motives 
control 


only  infrequently  can  it  be  spared  for  the  passage  of 
through  express  trains;  and  then,  like  those  of  the 
railway  itself,  only  according  to  a  well-planned  time- 
table, with  rules  drawn  up  by  a  skillful  manager, 
controlled  by  an  efficient  system  of  block  signals,  in 
the  hands  of  the  train  dispatcher. 

And  so  with  our  mental  traffic  lines;  the  time-table 
is  found  in  the  nurtureways,  the  rules  are  those  of 
morals;  the  general  management  is  in  the  hands  of 
society,  and  the  train  dispatcher  is  individual  self- 
control  through  the  will,  based  on  self-consciousness, 
the  signal  system. 

While  hunger  and  love  are  the  most  primitive, 
the  most  racially  repetitive  and  therefore  the  most 
insistent  of  all  the  human  motives;  nevertheless  in 
civilized  society  we  find  them  in  subjection  to  what 
we  call  our  higher  selves — to  the  later  and,  there- 
fore, weaker  impulses.  This  may  be  due  partly  to  a 
degree  of  antagonism  between  hunger — primarily 
individualistic — and  love — the  emotional  beginning 
of  socialization — and  partly  to  an  excess  power 
attained  by  the  more  numerous,  if  less  potent, 
nurtureway  motives  acting  in  combination.  Nurture- 
ways,  as  we  have  seen,  are  the  outcome  of  folk- 
feeling,  a  social  expression  of  moral  control.  When, 
therefore,  by  social  means  the  margin  of  force,  by 
which  the  more  primitive  impulses  normally  over- 
weigh  the  more  recent  ones,  is  reduced,  there  remains 
but  a  minimum  to  be  overcome  by  the  individual  in 
the  balance  of  desires.  But  a  few  more  impulse 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        121 

grains  are  needed  to  turn  the  scale  against  the  lower 
motives — which  unloosed  in  the  existing  complex 
civilization  would  tear  us  to  pieces  socially  as  well  as 
destroy  us  individually.  Observation  shows  that  this 
final  reinforcement  of  social  moral  control  is  drawn 
from  individual  volition. 

How  is  this  support  by  individual  volition  of  the 
later  and  weaker  impulses  supplied? 

The  general  question  is  one  of  a  conflict  between   Conflict  of 
the   impulses   derived   from   one  motive   or   set   of  impulses 
motives  with  those  of  another.     The  conduct  ulti- 
mately performed  by  the  agent  is  always  the  result 
of  a  choice  between  two  sets  of  impulses,  one  of 
which  is  always  of  the  natureways.     In  behavior  the   Direct 
choice  may  be  determined  directly  by  the  greater  choices 
power  of  one  of  the  two  natureways  in  a  given  situa-  between 
tion,  as  for  instance  when  a  jackal  has  to  choose  natureways 
between  his  desire  for  a  piece  of  meat  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  tiger  and  his  fear  of  the  great  cat;  in  which 
case  the  instinctive  emotion  of  fear  controls  the  reflex 
feeling  of  hunger,  and  without  volition  on  the  part 
of  the  agent.      It  is  in  this  way  that  behavior  is 
determined  as  between  the  impulses  of  conflicting 
natureways  in  the  animalkind.    The  result  is  a  direct 
choice  predetermined  by  the  reflexes  or  the  instincts 
and  tends  to  the  survival  of  the  beast.     So  also  the 
choices   of  young   children   are   controlled   by   that 
impulse  which  at  the  moment  happens  to  be  least 
hampered  by  existing  circumstances;  as  for  instance 
when  the  desire  for  sweetmeats  conflicts  with  the 


122 


TRADE  MORALS 


Conscious 
choices 
when  a 
nurtureway 
is  con- 
cerned 


Volition 
derived 
from  self- 
conscious- 
ness 


fear  of  punishment.  If  elders  are  about,  fear  will 
triumph;  if  the  child  is  alone,  he  will  yield  to  tempta- 
tion. Direct  choice  may  be  varied  to  some  degree 
through  habits  resulting  from  the  contact  of  instinct 
with  experience — the  progenitor  of  our  folkways. 

We  have  already  observed  that  among  human- 
kind the  prevalence  of  higher  over  lower  motive 
impulses,  in  making  choices,  is  proportioned  to  the 
degree  of  nervous  and  mental  development  in  the 
agent.  While  in  primitive  social  phases,  as  in 
animal  life,  much  behavior  springs  directly  from 
instinct,  yet  the  emotions  organized  by  the  folkgroup 
through  its  folkways  and  folk-customs  soon  begin  to 
guide  a  more  conscious  choice  between  conflicting 
impulses,  conforming  the  resultant  conduct  to  the 
pressure  of  the  group,  the  weaker  desires  being 
reinforced  and  compelled  by  fear  of  the  folk-feeling 
and  of  its  institutional  adjuncts.  In  still  higher 
social  phases,  reasoning  powers  have  been  devel- 
oped to  a  point  where  both  the  weaker  and  the 
stronger  impulses  can  be  consciously  presented  to 
and  balanced  by  the  mind.  Such  conscious  choices 
are  the  result  of  volitions — efforts  of  the  will.  They 
are  not  observable  in  animals,  although  in  them  the 
simulation  of  choice  is  sometimes  produced  by  habits 
due  to  external  compulsion,  such  as  a  master's  train- 
ing, etc.  Now  volition  is  a  function  of  self-con- 
sciousness, and  its  operations  will  be  better  under- 
stood by  a  brief  review  of  our  present  knowledge  of 
the  development  of  personality  in  mankind. 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        123 

The  evolution  of  self-consciousness  can  best  be 
observed  in  the  growing  minds  of  children.  As  the 
embryo  recapitulates  the  course  of  biological  evolu- 
tion so  the  development  of  the  child-mind  probably 
recapitulates  the  course  of  social  evolution.  The 
mental  resemblances  between  adult  savages  and 
young  children  of  higher  social  phases  have  often 
been  remarked. 

The    acquisition    of    self-consciousness,     in    the 
developing  man  or  in  the  infant,  is  the  result  of  a 
process  of  accumulating  knowledge  of  the  self,  its  Evolution 
structure    and    surroundings.      This    knowledge    is  of  self- 
cumulative;   that   later   acquired   based   upon    and  conscious- 
inspired  by  that  which  is  previously  possessed.    And  ness 
so  the  mind  of  every  man  gradually  steps  upward  a 
staircase  of  personality,  attaining  by  degrees  differ- 
ent levels,  marked  by  certain  characteristics  which 
may  be  recognized  and  classified  according  to  their 
effect  in  the  determination  of  conduct. 

(i)    The   first  level,   then,   of   self-consciousness  Levels  of 
is  that  whereon  the  self  has  been  distinguished  from  self-con- 
others,  both  persons  and  things.     (2)    Later  comes  sciousness 
the  level,  whereon  persons  generally  are  perceived 
to  be  of  a  different  class  or  order  from  inanimate 
objects,  or  from  lower  animals.     In  the  personifica- 
tion of  stones,  trees,  etc.,  in  early  mythology  and  in 
the  attribution  of  human  qualities  to  wild  animals,  we 
can  perceive  the  traces  of  the  earlier  level  of  self- 
consciousness    on    which    this    distinction    was    not 
obvious  to  the  gradually  opening  mind.      (3)    The 


124 


TRADE  MORALS 


The  self- 
regarding 
senti- 
ments— 


next  level  is  attained  when  social  relations  have  been 
discovered;  the  impulses  derived  from  the  contact 
with  others — parents,  relatives,  friends,  groups — 
an  appreciation  not  only  of  their  existence,  but  of  the 
effect  on  us  of  their  acts  and  of  their  beliefs  about 
ourselves;  reactions  upon  the  self-mind  of  the  ideas 
and  observation  of  social  groups  about  it  and  him; 
conceptions  of  those  things  about  the  self  that  others 
can  see  better  than  ourselves.  (4)  The  self  on  the 
fourth  level  has  discovered  that  there  are  physical 
rewards  and  punishments  apportioned  to  different 
classes  of  conduct,  either  by  other  persons  or  by  the 
folkgroup,  and  that  from  the  standpoint  of  pain  and 
pleasure  it  pays  to  be  good.  (5)  On  the  next  level 
man  has  advanced  from  this  state  of  mind  to  an 
appreciation  of  folk-feeling  expressed  by  social 
praise  and  blame,  and  of  his  satisfaction  when  he 
conforms  to  public  opinion,  and  of  his  shame  when 
it  is  transgressed.  The  highest  levels  thus  far 
developed  in  our  civilization  are  those  in  which  the 
self-regarding  sentiments  are  predominant;  (6) 
pride  and  (7)  self-respect.  As  these  two  levels  are 
successively  reached  we  first  become  conscious  that 
we  are  capable  of  being  proud  of  that  position  which 
we  hold  or  that  occupation  which  we  pursue;  and  in 
our  relations  with  others  we  will  do  nothing  to 
imperil  their  high  opinion  for  our  class  or  for  our 
work;  and  lastly,  as  a  being  whose  character  has 
been  formed  by  the  ascent  of  all  of  these  successive 
stages  of  self-consciousness  into  a  person  who  by  his 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        125 

attitude  toward  the  world,  not  only  solicits  respect  — the 
from  others  but  pays  it  to  himself.  highest 

If  each  of  these  steps  in  the  formation  of  the  ^eve^  °* 
highest  form  of  self-consciousness  be  considered  of  Personallty 
equal  value,  then  the  ascent  to  the  upper  level  would 
appear  to  be  overwhelmingly  due  to  the  contact  of 
the  mind  with  society.    And  since  all  men's  oppor- 
tunities for  that  contact  are  not  equal  we  must  expect 
to  find  differences  in  the  levels  attained  by  the  self- 
consciousness    of    persons    ( I )    in    different    social 
phases,  or  even    (2)    within  the  limits  of  a  single 
folkgroup.     It  would  be  foolish  as  well  as  useless 
to  look  for  the  higher  levels  in  savage  states,  where 
the  necessary  social  conditions  have  never  existed.   Personality 
And  the  minds  of  those  upon  whom  this  social  con-  from  the 
tact  works — do  they  not  possess  sensitiveness  and  contact  of 
development  in  different  degrees?    We  may  look  in  mmd  witn 
vain  for  a  high  level  of  self-consciousness  or  a  high  ' 
grade  of  morality  among  peoples  brought  up  in  the 
lower  social   phases,   among  mental   defectives,   or 
among  young  children. 

As  the  resultant  of  two  sets  of  variables — social 
contact  and  mental  sensitiveness — we  therefore  find 
great  differences,   in  time   and  space,   between   the   Personality 
levels  of  self-consciousness  to  which  individual  minds  variable  in 
have  risen.     But  as  each  society  has  roughly  a  type  ^me  an(^ 
of  mentality  characteristic  of  itself,  and  each  form   sPace~ 
of  folkgroup  its  characteristic  type  of  association,  we 
shall  not  be  surprised  if  we  find  that  in  each  social 
phase  there  is  a  corresponding  level  of  self-conscious- 


126 


TRADE  MORALS 


— and  pro- 
portioned 
to  social 
phases 

Coinci- 
dences of 
favoring 
conditions 
produce 
super- 
normal men 


Personality 
conditioned 
by  age 

— and  by 

social 

experience 


ness  to  which  the  average  mind  of  the  folkgroup 
members  has  risen.  The  moral  choices  of  the  men  in 
that  phase  are  reinforced  and  determined  by  control 
impulses  derived  from  the  highest  level  of  self- 
consciousness  to  which  their  group  has  attained. 

In  every  social  phase,  nevertheless,  there  are  cer- 
tain persons  who,  through  superior  opportunities  of 
social  contact  combined  with  a  mentality  above  the 
common,  have  passed  on  to  the  self-conscious  level 
characteristic  of  the  approaching  social  phase.  When 
these  persons  are  few  in  number,  they  are  the 
idealists  and  dreamers  of  their  time  and  place;  as 
they  increase  in  numbers,  however,  they  become  the 
leaders  of  their  groups,  destined  to  fashion  their 
folkgroup  into  a  capacity  for  larger  civilization,  and 
finally  to  raise  it  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  social 
phase.  They  increase  and  multiply  in  proportion  to 
their  ability  thus  to  better  fit  their  folkgroup  for 
survival  in  the  struggle  for  existence  by  an  improved 
adaptation  of  its  folk-customs  to  its  environment. 

The  growth  of  self-consciousness  being  both 
gradual  and  cumulative  as  men  pass  through  the 
social  phases,  we  may  observe  that  within  each  social 
phase  it  is  also  proportioned  to  age  as  well  as  to 
intelligence.  The  activities  of  a  young  man  would 
be  much  impeded  by  such  self-knowledge  as  is  neces- 
sary to  an  old  man's  existence.  Among  the  inexperi- 
enced or  unintelligent  a  lower  level  of  self-realiza- 
tion forms  the  soil  on  which  the  fakir — medical, 
political  or  social — cultivates  his  crop.  Of  the  sub- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        127 

groups  within  a  complex  folkgroup  not  every  one  is  Folkgroups 
capable  of  rising  to  the  same  level  of  self-conscious-  rarely 
ness  as  other  subgroups ;  for  conditions  may  be  and  homo- 
frequently  are  unfavorable  to  that  mental  content  Seneous 
and  fullness  of  social  contact  which  are  needed  for  r         . y 
the  final  steps  of  its  evolution. 

The  apportionment  of  culture  is  uneven  in  every 
folkgroup,  just  as  the  allotment  of  mentality  is  unlike 
among  the  sons  of  a  single  family;  both  disparities 
arise  from  conditions  which  we  cannot  control. 

We  must  realize  if  we  would  know  and  under- 
stand morals,  that  the  study  of  barbaric  peoples  is 
only  one  of  the  sources  for  knowledge  of  the  more 
primitive  social  phases  and  mental  levels  of  the  clan 
or  tribe,  and  that  such  undeveloped  groups  in  fact 
survive  as  subgroups  within  the  bounds  of  the  most  The  social 
advanced  nations  of  our  time.     In  the  United  States  problem  in 
this  is  peculiarly  the  case  because,  owing  to  the  prin-  *^e  United 
ciple  that  men  in  lower  social  phases  are  always  ^tates 
attracted  toward  the  life  of  the  phases  next  above 
them,  our  country  becomes  the  refuge  for  all  the 
inferior  groups  whose  aspirations  are  repressed  in 
their  native  lands  by  obstructive  folk-customs  crystal- 
lized in  law,  and  supported  by  the  force  majeure  of 
an  ancient  and  powerful  institutional  control. 

Self-consciousness  once  conceived  of  as  an  evolu- 
tion, proceeding  step  by  step  along  the  same  pathway  Personality 
as  life,  man,  society,  conduct,  mind  and  morals,  it  and  will 
remains  only  to  explain  its  influence  upon  the  choices, 
which    must    be    exercised    when    conduct-impulses 


128  TRADE  MORALS 

derived  from  higher  and  lower  motives  come   in 
conflict  with  one  another. 

We  have  seen  that  pride  and  self-respect  are  the 
highest  manifestations  of  self-consciousness.  They 
are  also  the  sources  of  desires  and  aversions,  which 
are  manifested  through  volitions  favoring  the 
higher  modes  of  conduct.  The  desires  and  aver- 
sions arising  from  pride  and  self-respect  reinforce 
the  choices  by  which  the  weaker  and  later  conduct- 
impulses  are  finally  made  to  prevail. 

To  draw  an  instance  from  the  field  of  business, 
Personality  we  may  take  the  everyday  experience  of  investment 
in  banking  banking  in  our  provincial  towns.  Two  well-defined 
types  of  security  dealers  exist  in  almost  every 
interior  city.  The  first  is  that  of  the  local  private 
banker,  generally  a  leading  citizen,  who  with  sons 
and  partners  and  partners'  sons  deals  directly  with 
neighbors  and  friends.  Such  people  carefully  weigh 
their  words  in  giving  advice  to  their  clients;  they  are 
proud  of  the  place  they  hold  in  the  community,  and 
their  self-respect  will  not  permit  them  to  do  any- 
thing to  imperil  it.  They  would  prefer  to  sacrifice 
business  rather  than  do  anything  underhanded  or 
say  anything  untruthful  to  obtain  it.  If  through  an 
error  of  theirs  or  through  their  bad  judgment  they 
have  persuaded  a  client  to  invest  in  an  unsound 
security,  they  would  prefer  to  buy  it  back  rather  than 
be  the  means  by  which  he  had  lost  his  capital.  It 
is  against  the  higher  impulses  of  such  a  firm  to 
encourage  speculative  gambling,  for  they  know  that 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        129 

those  who  indulge  in  it  always  lose  in  the  long  run. 
In  a  word  the  high  ideals  of  professional  conduct 
which  are  the  outcome  of  their  pride  and  self-respect 
have  so  reinforced  the  impulses  arising  from  the 
later  and  weaker  humanistic  of  consideration  for 
the  client  that  they  prevail  over  those  proceeding 
from  the  folk-customs, — ancient  and  strong  though 
they  be, —  (i)that  if  people  want  to  be  cheated,  let 
them — si  populus  vult  decipi,  decipiatur — and  (2) 
that  every  purchaser  must  take  and  accept  the  risk 
of  his  purchase — caveat  emptor. 

The  other  type  is  that  of  the  local  branch  office 
of  a  New  York  stockbroker  in  charge  of  a  manager  The 
sent  out  by  the  parent  house.  Educated  in  the  most  brokerage 
impersonal  school  of  trading  in  the  world,  where  the 
quick  succession  of  multitudinous  transactions  leaves 
time  neither  for  reflection  nor  for  consideration,  he 
is  sent  abroad  by  his  employers  to  get  them  business 
in  the  smaller  city.  His  success  depends  upon  the 
amount  of  new  business  he  can  bring  in  and  the 
quicker  he  does  it  the  better;  he  comes  today,  he  may 
go  tomorrow;  he  has  no  established  local  reputation, 
and  his  chief  concern  is  to  promote  purchases  and 
so  to  increase  commissions.  Providing  he  gets  busi- 
ness he  need  have  no  pride  in  his  job;  to  his 
employer  his  clients  are  only  names  written  in  a  book 
and  rated  by  Dun  or  Bradstreet.  So  long  as  they 
keep  their  margins  good  they  are  welcome  to  specu- 
late whether  they  have  the  means  to  do  it  or  not. 
The  lifeblood  of  their  business  is  to  buy  and  sell, 


130 


TRADE  MORALS 


Immoral 

results 

arising 

from  an 

institutional 

restriction 


High 

morals  help 
survival 


this  makes  commissions;  the  principal  cares  little 
how  the  agent  gets  the  business.  He  cannot  be  paid 
with  a  share  of  the  earnings,  and  so  have  a  stake  in 
the  continuity  of  his  business,  for  that  is  against  the 
rules  of  the  exchange ;  but  he  may  lawfully  be  given 
a  liberal  allowance  of  wines,  liquors  and  cigars  as  a 
part  of  the  necessary  expense  of  attracting  trade. 
The  growth  of  pride  and  self-respect  as  reinforce- 
ments to  the  humanistics  of  business  is  stifled  here,  as 
it  is  encouraged  there. 

The  policy  of  the  stock  exchange  in  prohibiting 
the  splitting  of  commissions  is  the  excuse  for  the 
branch  office,  in  place  of  the  more  natural  alliance 
with  an  old  established  private  business.  The  ex- 
change allows  its  member  to  spend  more  than  half- 
commissions  to  get  trade  in  a  low  way,  but  will  not 
allow  him  to  spend  as  much  on  a  legitimate  business 
proposition  to  get  it  in  a  high  way.  Thus  it  directly 
promotes  a  low  moral  standard  among  its  members, 
a  course  which  it  will  doubtless  some  day  have  cause 
to  regret.  For  the  choice  of  the  higher  morality 
always  tends  to  survival;  while  the  choice  of  the 
lower,  though  often  temporarily  profitable,  leads 
eventually  to  social  disapprobation,  condemnation 
and  reprisal  and  costs  the  group  more  than  is 
compensated  by  individual  gain. 

In  this  illustration  we  can  see  ( i )  a  conflict 
between  two  modes  of  conduct:  a  humanistic — con- 
sideration for  the  client;  and  some  folk-customs — 
allowable  deceptions  and  caveat  emptor;  (2)  vol- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        131 

untary    choice    of    the    higher    mode,    despite    the  Moral 
relative    weakness    of    its    impulses,    through    its  conflict  and 
reinforcement  by  the  higher  level  of  self-regarding  lts  solution 
sentiment  existing  in  the  character  of  the  bankers; 
(3)  voluntary  choice  of  the  older  and  stronger  but 
lower  mode  by  the  brokers,  whose  previous  educa- 
tion in  an  environment  of  obsolescent  folk-custom, 
institutionally  crystallized,  had  formed  their  char- 
acters on  lower  and  more  primitive  levels  of  self- 
consciousness. 

Personal    character,  therefore,    is    the  sounding 
board  for  the  moral  tones  through  which  volitions 
are  expressed  in  conduct.     It  is  the  sum  of  acquired 
tendencies  organized  and  built  up  by  self-conscious-  Character 
ness  and  consolidated  by  habitual  action,  upon  the  organized 
native  basis  of  a  man's  temperament  and  disposition,  by 
It  is  dependent  to  as  large  a  degree  upon  environ-  Personallty 
ment  and  opportunity  as  is  its  parent  self-conscious- 
ness; and  so  George  Eliot  says:  "our  deeds  deter- 
mine us  as  much  as  we  determine  our  deeds,  and  until 
we  know  what  has  been  or  will  be  the  peculiar  com- 
bination of  outward  with  inward  facts  which  con- 
stitutes a  man's  critical  actions,  it  will  be  better  not 
to  think  ourselves  wise  about  his  character." 

In  our  ignorance  we  have  but  two  categories  of 
character,  strong  and  weak.     But  the  keynote  of  the 
essential    difference    between   these    two    aspects    is  The  two 
fairly  clear.     Strong  character  is  that  in  which  the  categories 
emotions  and  habits  are  organized  by  the  influence  of  character 
of  an  ideal — of  what  a  man  wants  out  of  life,  or  of 


132 


TRADE  MORALS 


what  he  believes  is  the  ultimate  aim  of  life — and 
with  the  purposes  so  generated  he  persistently 
adjusts  his  habits  of  conduct  to  the  realization — so 
far  as  his  disposition  and  his  volitional  control 
The  will  permit — of  the  aims  which  his  ideal  inspires, 

strong  Disposition    is    inherent,    the    product    of    nature- 

ways;  a  man  cannot  avoid  his  disposition  any  more 
than  he  can  alter  the  shape  of  his  head  or  the  color 
of  his  eyes.  Like  the  instincts  from  which  it  springs 
it  can  be  faintly  modified  by  habitual  self-control; 
but  the  emotional  impulses  which  are  acquired  during 
lifetime  from  the  contact  of  mind  and  society  are 
much  more  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  volitions  with 
which  the  development  of  a  man's  self-consciousness 
has  endowed  him.  And  so,  strong  character  is  that 
— fashioned  in  which  such  control  of  the  impulses  has  been  under- 
by  an  ideal  taken  in  a  systematic  manner,  and  for  the  fixed  pur- 
pose of  carrying  out  an  ideal,  conceived  by  the  mind, 
and  always  before  it. 

Weak  character  is  that  in  which  the  sentiments 

dispositionally    inherited    or    socially    acquired    are 

The  not  organized  by  strong  ideals;  and  therefore,  to 

weak —         whatever  level   of   self-consciousness   its   possessor 

may  have  attained,  he  lacks  the  inspiration  necessary 

to   bring  his  bundle   of   sentiments   under  the   full 

—feeling       control  of  an  intelligent  volition.     He  may,  there- 

the  master     fore,  have  beautiful  feelings,  which  run  away  with 

of  its  his  self-control — the  sentimentalist  type — and  lead 

personality     him  to  forget  the  end  in  his  abandon  to  the  means. 

In  strong  characters,  therefore,   emotion  is  the 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        133 

servant  of  a  self-control  actuated  by  ideals ;  while  in 
weak  ones,  emotion  is  the  master  of  a  volition  not 
dominated  by  a  strong  conception  of  ends  and  aims. 
To  resume : 

1.  The  springs  of  impulses  to  behavior  or  con-  Summary 
duct  lie  in  the  emotions. 

2.  Behavior-impulses  proceed  from  natureways, 
in  which  case  they  are  inherent ;  and  conduct-impulses 
from  nurtureways,  in  which  case  they  are  acquired. 

3.  Impulses  are  powerful  in  proportion  to  their 
habitual  exercise  both  racially  and  individually;  and 
those  which  are  the  more  primitive  are  the  stronger. 

4.  In   conflicts   between   impulses   in   the   lower 
orders   of  life  behavior  is   directly  determined  by 
whichever  is  the  stronger,  as  modified  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time  and  place. 

5.  In  conflicts  between  the  impulses  of  the  higher 
life  the  resultant  conduct  is  determined  by  a  balance 
of  forces,  in  which  conscious  volition  is  or  may  be  the 
makeweight. 

6.  Volition   is   a   function   of   self-consciousness 
and    is    directly   proportioned   to    the    level    of   its 
development. 

7.  The  joint  product  of  disposition,  temperament 
and  self-conscious  volition  is  organized  in  man  as 
character;  and  this  organization  is  systematized  and 
strengthened  by  his  ideals  of  life. 

In  the  struggle  to  realize  his  ideals,   a  man  of 
strong  character  will  assist  himself  by  the  formula- 


134  TRADE  MORALS 

The  tion   and   adherence  to   fixed  principles   of   action, 

value  of  Principle  as  an  adjunct  to  volition  gives  the  same 
principle—  support  to  the  systematic  organization  of  individual 
character  as  moral  rules  do  to  conformity  with  the 
folk-custom ;  they  contribute  to  efficiency  by  minimiz- 
ing effort.  To  determine,  in  each  particular  instance, 
what  course  of  action — what  conduct — the  man  of 
character  shall  pursue,  involves  thought,  and 
thought  costs  effort.  This  effort  is  in  direct  ratio  to 
the  novelty  of  the  act  under  consideration.  To  the 
mind,  as  to  the  body,  effort  is  more  or  less  disagree- 
able. In  order,  therefore,  to  avoid  effort  the  man 
—as  an  of  strong  character  devises  rules  of  action  for  self- 
economizer  guidance  which  will  bear  the  same  relation  to  his 
of  effort  conduct  as  folkways  and  folk-customs  bear  to  the 
conduct  of  the  group.  Tending  to  economize 
mental  effort  through  predetermination  of  the  voli- 
tions, they  help  to  organize  his  conduct  along  the 
lines  of  least  resistance  and  to  set  free  a  larger 
amount  of  mental  energy  for  the  consummation  of 
the  ideal  by  which  his  character  is  dominated. 
Adherence  to  principle  attracts  others  with  whom 
dealings  are  to  be  desired,  and  Bacon  advises  wisely 
that  he  who  desires  great  place  should  "seek  to  make 
his  course  regular,  that  men  may  know  beforehand 
what  they  may  expect."  Most  men  of  strong  char- 
acter understand  well  the  value  of  fixed  principles 
and  the  danger  and  confusion  produced  by  irregular 
exceptions. 

In  the  practice  of  the  business  world  these  rela- 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  WILL        135 

tions,  though  rarely  formulated,  are  well  understood. 
Character  is  conceded  to  be  the  main  foundation  of  — as  an 
credit ;  other  things  being  equal,  men  of  principle  are  element 
increasingly  better  fitted  to  survive  in  the  bitter  com-  making  for 
petition  by  which  the  economic  world  is  ruled.     To  survlval 
consider  the  relations  of  economics  and  business  to 
the  evolutionary  processes  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  the  explanation  of  matter,  life,  morals  and  char- 
acter, will  be  the  object  of  the  remaining  chapters 
of  this  essay. 


VIII 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES— BUSINESS 


Conduct  Moral  conduct  is  a  part — a  large  part  but  not 

not  all  all — of  the  acts  by  which  a  group  of  men  is  enabled 

moral  to   secure   sufficient    food   supply,   to   protect   itself 

from  its  enemies,  to  prolong  its  existence  by  the 
regulated  exercise  of  its  reproductive  instincts,  to 
increase  its  potency  by  inner  efficiency  or  by  terri- 
torial expansion,  and  finally  to  foster  the  welfare  of 
its  individual  members.  Apart  from  morals  there 
is  a  very  large  class  of  impulses  to  conduct  motived 
by  economic  forces. 

Economic  Like  ethics,  economics  is  a  quest  for  the  ways  in 
conduct  which  with  the  least  effort  man  can  so  adjust  himself 
to  his  environment  as  to  procure  the  satisfaction  of 
certain  desires.  The  most  important  of  these  are 
food  and  clothing  for  the  family,  lodging  and  the 
prospect  of  being  to  some  degree  independent  of 
lifelong  labor  to  supply  these  needs,  or  to  gratify 
other  secondary  desires  arising  from  a  variety  of 
instincts  or  tendencies  such  as  those  of  curiosity  or 
beauty.  The  primitive  impetus  to  economic  conduct 
is,  therefore,  derived  from  the  same  primeval  im- 
pulses of  hunger  and  love,  adding  thereto  that  of  a 
number  of  morally  neutral  instincts,  the  principal  of 
which  are  those  of  acquisition  and  construction. 
Conduct  resulting  from  economic  motives  is  dis- 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  137 

tinguished  from  that  inspired  by  moral  motives  in  — con- 
that  it  is  concerned  with  individual  rather  than  with  cerned  with 
folkgroup  welfare,  and  that  its  uniformities  are  the  individual 
result  of  a  rationally  realized  experience  of  their  weltare 
benefits  instead  of  being  induced  by  the  folk-feelings 
which  rally  in   support  of   folk-custom.     Thus,   at 
the  outset,  economic  conduct  is  in  the  main  pursued 
for  individual  interest  or  for  the  interest  of  a  sub- 
group, and  only  incidentally  in  the  interest  of  the 
commonweal.     As  a  product  of  the  reason  rather  Rational 
than  of  the  emotions  the  expressions  of  its  adapta- 
tion to  environment,  or  the  reverse,  are,  therefore, 
wise  or  foolish  instead  of  right  or  wrong.    Primarily 
it  has  no  bearing,  real  or  fancied,  upon  the  ideals  of 
social  welfare  which  the  folkgroup  establishes  for 
itself. 

But  with  the  increasing  complexity  of  the  national  Its  inter- 
folkgroups  there  is  an  increasing  disposition  to  con-  connection 
nect  social  welfare  with  certain  phases  of  individual  Wltn  morals 
economic  activity.     The   folkgroup  vaguely  recog- 
nizes that  the  ramification  of  economic  subgroups 
throughout  its  entire  structure  must  necessarily  have 
consequences   beneficial   or   hostile   to   its   welfare. 
Wisely  or   foolishly,   therefore,   it   is  beginning  to 
attribute  a  social  or  moral  aspect  to  a  class  of  cen- 
tralized,   folkwide,    economic    conduct    which    per- 
formed by  the  many  or  within  a  small  area  has  a 
negligible  bearing  upon  the  folkweal.   It  is  here  that 
we  find  the  explanation  of  the  oft  mooted  question  as  The  scale 
to  why  certain  conduct  which  on  a  small  scale  is  not  of  offense 


138 


TRADE  MORALS 


Economics 
not 

opposed 
to  morals 


viewed  with  hostility,  when  exercised  on  a  large 
scale,  the  folkgroup  resents,  and  endeavors  to  regu- 
late or  suppress  by  statutory  institutions.  The  prin- 
ciple involved  in  this  change  of  attitude  is  that  so 
long  as  a  business  is  individualized  by  competition  it 
is  an  affair  of  individual  interest;  but  that  when  it  is 
socialized  by  combination  it  becomes  an  affair  of 
social  interest. 

Inasmuch  as  economic  conduct  is  an  essential 
means  of  adjusting  the  lives  of  individuals  to  the 
conditions  of  their  environment,  and  as  the  greater 
part  of  that  environment  is  social,  it  is  only  when 
maladjusted  that  economic  conduct  can  normally  run 
counter  to  folkgroup  interests.  The  concern  of 
ethics  with  conduct  arising  from  the  economic 
impulses  will  naturally  be  limited  to  that  residuum  of 
cases,  wherein  they  conflict  with  the  accepted  rules 
of  morality. 

Rules  of  economics,  like  those  of  morals,  are  in 
continual  motion  and  change,  in  response  to  the  con- 
stantly changing  conditions  by  which  they  are 
affected.  A  series  of  situations  arises  in  the  effort 
to  form  the  conduct-adjustments:  (i)  of  individuals 
to  individuals,  (2)  of  individuals  to  groups,  (3)  of 
groups  to  groups,  (4)  of  groups  to  the  folkgroup, 
and  (5)  of  the  folkgroup  to  its  environment. 
Adjustment  The  adjustments  thus  outlined  are  complicated  by 
the  process  of  motion  and  change  through  which 
morals  and  economics  are  continually  passing  in  the 
course  of  evolution,  for  these  factors  of  the  problem 


Economic- 
moral 
situations 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  139 

of  conduct  move  along  their  course  of  development 
at  rates  which  are  not  always  the  same ;  and  it  often 
happens  that  the  structure  of  one  of  them  is  over- 
developed with  respect  to  the  other.  Such  inequality  Maladjust- 
of  progress  leads  to  novel  situations  for  which  at  the  merit 
time  being  no  settled  moral  rules  have  been  evolved. 
Under  these  circumstances  men  are  uncertain  what 
conduct  they  are  under  obligation  to  perform,  and 
are  driven  hither  and  thither  by  conflicting  interests 
and  emotions.  In  short,  existing  moral  sentiment  is 
for  the  time  being  incompetent  to  decide  the  ques- 
tions that  frequently  arise  during  a  constructive  Moral 
period  of  humanistics,  or  of  interpenetrating  sub-  confusion 
groups,  or  during  a  degenerative  process  involving 
the  survival  of  a  law  after  its  basic  folk-custom  has 
been  disowned  by  folk-feeling.  The  emotional 
forces  by  which  the  art  of  conduct  is  commonly 
inspired  are  confused  by  such  conflicts.  The  voli- 
tions, unguided  by  precedent,  have  to  seek  the  aid  of 
the  reasoning  powers  to  form  new  principles  of 
action:  this  is  a  slow  and  deliberate  process,  and 
until  new  rules  are  formulated  and  agreed  upon  the 
community  is  temporarily  in  a  state  of  quandary 
toward  the  conduct  in  question. 

A  practical  illustration  of  the  theory  of  conflic-  Transpor- 
tions  and  confusions  is  found  in  the  history  of  trans-  tation  in  the 
portation  rates  in  the  United  States.     As  originally  United 
conceived  railways  were  private  enterprises  encour-  States 
aged  by  the  folkgroup  on  account  of  their  manifest 
benefit  to  the  communities  which  they  serve.     Their 


140 


TRADE  MORALS 


Maxim  of 
"what  the 
traffic  will 
bear" 


charges  for  transport  were  fixed  to  agree  with 
existing  folkways  of  rates,  and  the  basis  and  method 
of  their  assessment  in  accordance  with  the  existing 
folk-custom.  This  folk-custom  was  derived  from  two 
sources:  the  custom  of  the  water-carrying  and  of 
the  land-carrying  groups.  As  established  in  the 
folkways,  the  freight  rates  of  the  latter  group  were 
high  compared  with  present  standards:  being 
adjusted  to  local  needs  by  the  competition  of  other 
land  carriers  and  limited  by  the  cost  of  horse-drawn 
carriage  on  the  highways  of  that  time.  With  the 
advent  of  competition  between  the  railways  them- 
selves, after  other  conditions  had  made  such  compe- 
tition practical,  rates  of  freight  were  vastly  reduced, 
especially  where  a  large  volume  of  business  could  be 
so  produced.  At  places  where  there  was  no  railway 
competition  the  reduction  was  adjusted  to  the  point 
necessary  to  secure,  as  against  wagon  traffic,  all  the 
business  there  originating.  Thus  grew  up  the  cus- 
tom of  the  railway  group  of  fixing  its  charges  in 
accordance  with  "what  the  traffic  would  bear"  and 
in  accordance  with  existing  folkways  in  satisfying 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  local  village  or  other 
group.  To  do  so  conflicted  with  no  folk-custom, 
because  by  increased  speed  and  lower  rates  the  ser- 
vice rendered  to  each  community  increased  its  wel- 
fare beyond  that  produced  by  any  previous  folkway 
of  transport. 

Enterprising  men    discovered    in    certain    com- 
munity-groups folkway  conditions  which  they  could 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  141 

turn  to  their  own  profit,  with  corresponding  advan-  Origin  of 

tage  to  the  members  of  the  group,  by  promoting  rebates 

industrial  enterprises  therein,  which  had  been  held 

back  only  by  the  high  cost  of  transportation  to  that 

point.     These  promoters  approached  the  railroad 

group  with  the  proposition  that  special  rates,   or 

perhaps   rebates   from   existing   rates,   be   given  to 

them,  promising  in  return  a  large  amount  of  traffic. 

Such  rates  and  rebates  proved  highly  beneficial  both 

to  railroad  and  to  groupal  welfare,  and  were  adopted 

into  folk-custom.     They  furthered  the  incoming  of 

other  enterprises  into  the  favored  towns  and  became 

in  time  an  important  stimulus  to  the  growth  and 

prosperity  of  cities.     The  ultimate  result,  however, 

of  these  new  adjustments  between  folkways  and  folk-  Resulting  in 

customs  was  a  large  amount  of  irregularity  in  freight  discrimina- 

rates:    unimportant    local    groups    or    individuals  ^on 

unable  to  control  large  shipments  being  subject  to 

very  unfavorable  discrimination. 

Such  discrimination  was  not,  at  first,  regarded  as  Not  prima- 
unfair.     According  with  groupal  welfare  in  a  very  rily  unfair 
broad  way  it  was  not  inconsistent  with  folk-custom. 
The    sufferers    were    a    residuum,    an    insignificant 
minority  of  industrial  producers:  de  minimis  mos  non 
curat.    For  it  is  not  the  business  of  the  folk-custom  to 
look  out  for  the  individual :  its  concern  is  only  with 
the  folkgroup. 

Differences  in  carrying  charges  between  different  Supported 
groups  or  persons  in  fact  not  only  were  supported  by  existing 
by  this  precedent,  but  by  another  one,  of  immemorial  folk-custom 


142  TRADE  MORALS 

usage.     Until  the  advent  of  the  railway  the  great 
bulk — probably  nineteen  twentieths — of  all  freight 
traffic  was  water-borne.    Ships  and  other  vessels  are 
comparatively  large  units  of  carriage,  and  in  order  to 
sail  them  safely  and  profitably,  it  is  necessary  that 
The  custom   they  should  be  loaded  full.     If  a  loading  vessel  has 
ofsea-borne  been  only  partly  filled  by  complying  with  the  existing 
traffic  folkway  of  competitive  freight  rates  it  is  better  for 

the  group  who  sail  it,  and  for  the  folkgroup  itself — 
of  whose  organism  the  sailor-group  is  a  most  vital 
member — that  it  should  be  fully  loaded  before  de- 
parture, even  if  the  last  end  of  its  cargo  should  have 
to  be  carried  at  a  lower  price.  And  so  the  sailor- 
group  from  time  immemorial,  in  accordance  with 
folk-custom  has  been  in  the  habit  of  filling  up  its 
ships  at  the  best  price  it  could  get:  anything  was 
better  than  sailing  in  ballast.  Such  is  the  custom  of 
sailing  vessels  to  this  day:  and  by  these  means  over- 
sea markets  are  often  opened  to  classes  of  merchan- 
dise which  at  a  higher  cost  of  carriage  would  not  be 
demanded  abroad.  The  analogous  situation  on  the 
Back-  railroads  is  that  of  back-loading,  where  almost  any 

loading          revenue  is  better  than  a  train  of  empty  cars. 

Immediately  following  the  Civil  War  a  period  of 
industrial  stimulation  gave  large  profits  and  apparent 
prosperity  to  all  classes  of  business.  Coinciding  with 
the  reaction  from  these  conditions  was  the  inevitable 
national  return  to  a  sound  currency  basis,  involving 
widespread  folkway  changes,  with  business  losses  to 
those  who  were  behindhand  in  adjusting  their  con- 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  143 

duct  to  these  environmental  disturbances.     Almost  Depression 
coincidently  also  came  a  period  of  hitherto  unparal-  of  1873-79 
leled  railway  construction,  involving  keen  competi- 
tion for  business,  accompanied  by  an  accentuation  of 
the  rate  irregularities  above  referred  to.     Discrimi- 
nations favored  the  strong,  and  the  weak,  considered 
politically,  were  in  the  majority.    There  was  a  grow- 
ing need  for  a  humanistic  of  equal  treatment  in  the 
adjustment   of   freight   rates,   to   which  the   crude 
railway  management   of  the   times  was   oblivious, 
relying   upon   the   well-established   folk-customs   by 
which  carrying  charges  had  for  centuries  been  fixed.  The 
This  brought  about  political  agitation,  and  the  famil-  Granger 
iar  establishment  of  a  subgroup  to  forward  such  a  agitation 
change.     The  western  farmers,  in  fact,  organized 
themselves  into  granges  and  attempted  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  purpose  by  statutory  legislation  in 
the  states  where  they  were  preponderant. 

But  existing  folk-custom  was  too  well  and  firmly 
fixed  in  folk-feeling  for  the  immediate  change  desired 
by  the  group.     Railroad  construction  in  the  Granger  Its  failure 
states  abruptly  ceased  and  the  enforcement  of  their  as  a  contest 
crude  statutes  halted.     The  railway  group  and  the  between 
farmer  group  rose  to  a  higher  level  of  self-conscious-  SrouPs 
ness  through  the  discovery  that  they  were  interde- 
pendent members  of  a  folkgroup  organism.     Mean- 
time the  conflict  between  the  folkways  founded  on 
economic  impulses,  and  the  proposed  humanistic  con- 
tinued.    The  relations  of  the  railway  group  to  the 
granger  group,  and  to  an  increasing  number  of  com- 


144 


TRADE  MORALS 


Develop- 
ment of 
railroads 
into  social 
organs 


A  case  of 
functional 
disease 


Railway 
commis- 
sions as  a 
remedy 


munities  and  individuals,  were  out  of  adjustment  to 
each  other.  All  these  groups  were  out  of  adjustment 
to  their  environment.  From  private  enterprises 
beginning  with  the  simple  relations  of  individuals  to 
individuals,  later  of  groups  to  groups,  the  railways 
had  developed  more  complex  folkgroup  relations, 
which  in  their  inception  had  not  been  dreamed  of. 
They  have  been  evolved  into  interdependent  organs 
essential  to  folkgroup  welfare,  and  their  structure 
has  become  the  means  by  which  an  integral  and  very 
important  function  of  the  social  organism  is  per- 
formed— a  gear  wheel  of  the  intricate  social  machine 
without  which  it  ceases  to  operate. 

In  the  process  economic  impulses  had  come  into 
clash  with  moral  impulses,  with  resultant  strife  and 
bitterness  between  subgroups.  It  was  fortunately  a 
condition  of  functional  and  not  of  organic  disease. 
Neither  of  the  folkgroup  organs — railway  group 
nor  industrial  group — was  fundamentally  affected. 
Functional  diseases  either  of  the  body  or  of  society 
are  cured  through  readjustment  of  the  functions;  and 
the  necessary  therapy  was  supplied  by  the  device  of 
institutions — the  railway  commissions — which  for 
the  past  thirty  years  have  been  gradually  accom- 
plishing this  task.  They  have  modified  folk-custom 
and  furthered  humanistic  development  in  the  interest 
of  weaker  individuals  and  groups,  and  of  the 
commonweal ;  that  is  to  say,  by  a  progressive  adjust- 
ment through  moral  and  legal  means  of  the  changing 
folkgroup  structure  to  its  environment. 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  145 

In  this  sketch  may  be  seen  birth  and  the  gradual 
growth  within  the  folkgroup  of  a  new  subgroup — =• 
the  railway — its  early  development  in  conformity 
with  existing  folk-custom  and  existing  folkways; 
economic  evolution  and  the  influence  upon  the  sub- 
group of  economic  impulses;  their  adjustment  to 
folkgroup  environment,  at  first  harmonious  and  later 
discordant;  the  advance  of  the  railways  from  indi- 
vidualization  to  socialization  through  the  ramifica- 
tion and  growth  of  the  system;  motion  and  change 
also  in  folkgroup  morals  through  the  changed  en- 
vironment in  the  depression  of  1873-79;  conflict; 
the  earlier  triumph  of  folk-custom  over  law;  the 
later  growth  of  humanistics  evolving  into  new  folk-  Socializa- 
custom ;  the  establishment  of  institutional  control ;  tion  of  the 
and  the  process  of  final  adjustment  to  the  harmony  railways 
between  folkways,  class-custom  and  folk-custom,  by 
which  our  folkgroup  better  fits  itself  for  survival. 
The  history  is  really  one  of  the  readjustment  of  busi- 
ness to  morals;  the  main  subject  with  which  this  essay 
is  concerned. 

Business    is   human    activity,    i.e.,    conduct,    with 
respect  to  the  exchange  of  services,  commodities  or 
moneys.     In  primitive  social  phases — the  clan,  for  Business 
instance — business    is    undeveloped.      The    kinship  defined 
molecule  begins  by  holding  most  objects  of  use  or 
desire  in  common,  very  much  as  in  the  family  atom 
of  today.    In  all  probability  the  first  exchanges  were 
largely  by  force  or  intimidation,  the  spoils  of  war  or 
of  theft,  plundered  by  one  socialistic  kinship  group 


146 


TRADE  MORALS 


Dependent 

on 

exchanges 


Its  evolu-       from  an  outgroup  not  kin  to  itself — an  act  commend- 
tion  able  rather  than  to  be  condemned.    As  society  passed 

from  the  kinship  to  the  tribal  phase,  the  relation  of 
common  interest  between  the  clans  which  form  the 
tribe  developed  a  peaceful  folk-custom  for  the  ex- 
change of  commodities  produced  by  the  industry  of 
one  and  desired  by  another. 

Business,  therefore,  is  an  outcome  of  the  failure 
of  self-sufficing  industry  to  adjust  the  structure  of  a 
group  to  its  environment.  So  long  as  the  primitive 
folkgroup  produces  within  its  bounds  everything 
needed  to  satisfy  its  wants  it  has  no  need  of  ex- 
changes, but  so  soon  as  it  produces  an  excess  of  any 
commodity  or  acquires  a  folkway  of  using  any  com- 
modity which  it  does  not  produce,  it  finds  its  interest 
in  exchanging  a  part  of  its  product  with  other  folk- 
groups  so  as  to  procure  such  goods  as  others  may 
produce  in  excess  of  their  needs.  The  folk-customs 
of  intragroup  communism  and  intergroup  plunder 
which  formerly  prevailed  are  gradually  supplanted 
by  new  folk-customs  governing  the  interchange  of 
The  evolu-  goods  with  outgroups,  and  finally  of  systematized 
tion  of  exchange  within  the  folkgroup  bounds.  The  earliest 

money  form  of  peaceful  exchange  is  barter,  or  the  exchange 

of  one  commodity  directly  against  others,  closing  the 
transaction,  and  barter  is  business  in  its  most  rudi- 
mentary form.  The  formerly  self-sufficing  hunting, 
pastoral  or  agricultural  clan  which  begins  to  hoard 
a  surplus  of  its  product  for  the  use  of  others,  and  to 
receive  from  others  in  exchange  a  part  of  their  sur- 


147 

plus,  next  feels  the  need  of  a  measure  of  value  for 
such  exchange.  The  ultimate  expression  of  this 
necessity  is  money — cattle  or  bronze,  gold  or  silver, 
cowries  or  banknotes — as  a  medium  of  exchange. 

Business  originates  in  the  excess  product  of  in- 
dustrial groups  and  is  a  potent  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  conditions  under  which  economic 
subgroups  are  formed  and  maintained.  In  highly 
civilized  nations  the  economic  type  of  subgroup 
tends  eventually  to  supplant  the  decaying  tribal  and 
clan  groups  out  of  which  they  are  originally  formed. 

The  customs  of  business  are  probably  at  first  clan 
customs  because  the  clan  is  the  primitive  industrial 
group.     But  in  the  evolution  of  the  tribe  from  the 
clan,  and  of  the  nation  from  the  tribe,  that  part  of 
the    customs    which    has    been    developed    by    the  Kin-groups 
growth    of    business    eventually    adheres    to    the  supplanted 
industrial,  rather  than  to  the  kinship  group.     The  by  industrial 
contempt  of  trade  manners  peculiar  to  some  aristoc-  Croups 
racies  is  very  likely  a  survival  of  clan-feeling,  origi- 
nating at  a  time  when  that  group  and  the  industrial 
group  were  in  bitter  rivalry.   It  is  the  fate  of  customs 
based  on  kinship-ideals   to   become   constantly  less 
important  to  group  welfare,  and  so  to  be  gradually 
supplanted  by  customs  based  on  economic  ideals. 

As  an  instance  may  be  cited  the  subjection  of  chil-  Subjection 
dren  to  parents,  which  began  in  absolute  ownership,  of  children 
fairly  analogous  to  slavery:  a  condition  which  in  cus-  a  kinship- 
torn,  if  not  in  law,  persisted  long  after  the  maturity  custom> 
of  the  infant,  until  the  eighteenth  century.    It  is  only 


148 


TRADE  MORALS 


— but  is 
yielding  to 
industrial 
custom 


Group 
types  of  the 
20th  cen- 
tury in  the 

U.S. 

Industrial — 
— extractive 


— manufac- 
turing 


within  the  last  ten  years  that  the  power  of  the 
parent  to  control  his  child  until  the  age  of  thirty  has 
been  broken  in  France.  The  early  laws  of  Ken- 
tucky allowed  parents  to  put  disobedient  children  in 
jail  "until  they  were  humbled."  In  the  New  Eng- 
land agricultural  family  of  the  early  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, the  status  of  the  children  was  often  that  of 
dependents,  participating  in  the  common  support  but 
without  separate  means  so  long  as  they  lived  at 
home.  But  at  present  the  economic  independence  of 
the  child  of  over  school  age  is  folk-custom  in  the 
Northern  States,  even  where  unrecognized  by  law; 
while  in  parts  of  the  South  the  right  of  parents  to 
exploit  the  labor  of  their  progeny  is  as  yet  undis- 
puted. 

The  types  of  economic  group  which  have  grown 
up  during  the  nineteenth  century  and  serve  society 
through  the  exercise  of  business  functions  may  be 
classified  thus: 

A.  Industrial  Groups:  primarily  producers  of 
raw  materials  extracted  from  the  natural  environ- 
ment, such  as  game,  skins,  furs,  wool,  meats,  food- 
stuffs and  textile  fibres,  and  those  similarly  drawn 
from  mother  earth,  such  as  ores,  crude  chemicals, 
fuels,  oils,  metals  and  minerals;  and  next  manufac- 
turers of  raw  materials  by  moving  or  combining  their 
particles  so  as  to  make  them  directly  serve  the  folk- 
ways of  the  consumer,  through  processes  of  tanning, 
spinning,  weaving,  grinding,  smelting,  founding, 
refining,  etc.  The  importance  of  the  business  func- 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  149 

tion  of  the  industrial  groups,  in  a  given  social  phase, 
is  measured  by  the  proportions  of  their  product  not 
consumed  within  the  group:  the  farmer  who  sup- 
ports himself  and  his  family  entirely  from  the  pro- 
duct of  his  farm,  and  exchanges  none  of  it  for  the 
products  of  others,  is  not  in  any  sense  in  business. 

B.  Transportation  Groups  perform  the  service  Transpor- 
of  carrying  commodities,  either  raw  or  finished,  any-  tation 
where  between  their  initial  production  and  their  ulti- 
mate consumption  and  exercise  a  business  function 

whose  importance  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  dis- 
tance traversed  or  the  obstacles  overcome. 

C.  Trade  Groups,  such  as  selling  agents,  brokers,  Trade 
merchants,   exporters   or  importers,   and  those   en- 
gaged in  the  distribution  of  merchandise  from  the 
producing  to  the  consuming  markets,  such  as  com- 
mission   merchants,    jobbers    and    retailers,    serve 
actively  in  the  exchange  of  commodities,  either  for 
their  own  account  or  for  that  of  others.    The  value 

of  their  business  function  is  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  existing  obstacles  opposing  a  direct  communica- 
tion between  producer  and  consumer.  These 
obstacles  may  be  natural,  like  distance,  or  lack  of 
facilities  for  intercommunication;  artificial,  such  as 
institutional  barriers  erected  by  law,  tariff  duties, 
etc.;  or  moral,  arising  out  of  a  difference  in  folkway 
and  folk-custom — language,  social  status,  scale  of 
living,  etc. 

D.  Labor   Groups   sell   their  working  time   or  Labor 
task-performance  either  for  subsistence,  for  wages 


150 


TRADE  MORALS 


Financial 


Profes- 
sional 


or  for  piece-price;  and  whether  manual,  skilled  or 
clerical,  are  evolved  with  the  development  of  indus- 
try, transportation  or  trade  so  soon  as  co-operative 
rather  than  individual  toil  conduces  better  to  the 
survival  of  that  subgroup  by  which  it  is  performed. 
The  first  phase  of  labor  is  of  slavery  or  family  work 
in  a  communistically  or  patriarchally  organized 
society;  its  second  phase  is  that  of  time  wages,  the 
third  is  that  of  task-performance  and  piece  payment; 
its  fourth  seems  to  be  along  the  lines  of  profit  shar- 
ing. A  rudimentary  trace  of  business  exists,  even  in 
its  earliest  phase,  but  that  function  takes  a  more 
important  place  as  the  simpler  stages  of  customary, 
competitive  and  combination  wages  are  passed  and 
the  more  complex  conditions  established  by  the  piece- 
price  and  the  bonus  systems  are  entered  upon. 

E.  Financial   Groups,    such    as   bankers,    stock- 
brokers, promoters,  insurers,  serve  society  by  trans- 
acting the  exchange  of  domestic  and  foreign  money 
and  credits,  and  in  the  purchase  or  sale  of  market- 
able property  rights,  investment  securities,  or  con- 
tracts for  the  assumption  of  risks.     These  groups 
perform  a  business  function  whose  importance  is  in 
direct    ratio    to    the    complexity   of   the    folkgroup 
organization. 

F.  Professional  Groups  are  those  who  sell  ser- 
vices based  upon  special  knowledge  needful  to  social 
or  industrial  welfare,  such  as  engineers,  physicians, 
lawyers,  teachers,  authors,  artists  or  clergymen,  and 
these  are  in  business  to  the  extent  that  their  services 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  151 

are  exchanged  for  money  or  for  commodities  ex- 
changeable into  money. 

The  conduct  involved  in  the  business  activities  of  Conduct 
each  of  these  groups  is  influenced  and  determined  by  motives 
three   sets   of   forces — the   economic   impulses,   the  'n  business 
moral  impulses  and  the  self-conscious  level  to  which  actlvlty 
they  have  attained.    The  resultant  of  the  conflict  or 
co-operation  of  these  forces  is  expressed  in  the  group 
morals,  or  standard  of  what  conduct  it  is  right  to 
expect  from  a  member  of  any  one  of  these  groups.  Evolution 
For  each  group  has  its  own  class-customs  obligatory  of  business 
upon    all    of    its    members,    however    imperfectly  conduct 
known  or,  may  be,  entirely  unknown  to  the  mem- 
bers   of    the    other    groups.       From    the    class- 
custom,    standards    of    right    conduct    are    formed 
from    the    group    members,    binding    indeed    upon 
the   group,   but   by   no   means   binding   upon  mem-  Group 
bers   of   other  groups,   or  upon   all   groups.      For  custom 
example,  advertising  is  contrary  to  good  morals  in 
the  medical  and  legal  professions,  but  is  right  for  the 
industrial  and  trading  classes.     The  pleading  of  a  Group 
purely  technical  objection  is  not  wrong  for  a  lawyer,  morality 
but  is  not  considered  right  for  a  business  man.     A 
broker  who  sells  a  security  on  the  stock  exchange 
does  not  guarantee  the  value  of  his  commodity:  if  it 
proves  worthless,  he  is  not  condemned,  but  a  dry 
goods  merchant  must  see  to  it  that  what  he  sells  is 
merchantable,  i.e.,  sufficiently  perfect  to  be  service- 
able for  the  customary  use  which  is  made  of  it.     A 
textile  producer  may  without  moral  wrong  put  on  the 


152 


TRADE  MORALS 


market  a  mixture  of  silk  and  mercerized  cotton  to 
answer  the  purpose  of  a  pure  silk  fabric  at  a  lower 
price,  provided  he  does  not  actively  misrepresent  its 
quality,  but  an  apothecary  who  uses  a  substitute  in 
the  preparation  of  his  prescription  is  guilty  of  a 
Its  vagaries  crime.  The  most  wrongful  conduct  in  the  class- 
custom  of  the  labor  groups  is  to  compete  for  a 
fellow  member's  job,  but  elsewhere  groups  and  com- 
munities very  generally  resent  restraint  of  competi- 
tion as  a  restraint  of  trade. 

Subgroup  standards,  therefore,  are  not  neces- 
sarily folkgroup  standards  for  moral  conduct, 
whether  because  the  conditions  differ  under  which 
they  are  to  be  applied,  or  because  the  principle  which 
underlies  them  is  not  recognized  and  approved  by  the 
whole  social  fabric,  no  matter  how  completely  it  may 
be  accepted  by  some  one  of  its  constituent  parts.  To 
win  that  degree  of  acceptance  which  will  admit  them 
to  an  undisputed  moral  rank,  they  must  either  be 
recognized  by  the  folkgroup  as  essential  to  its  wel- 
fare, or  as  responding  to  that  degree  of  emotional 
satisfaction  which  the  current  development  of  its 
sentiment  of  pity  demands. 

A  comparison  of  the  group  morals  derived  from 
class-customs  with  the  universal  morals  derived  from 
folk-custom,  and  which  are  recognized  by  society  as 
obligatory  upon  all  of  its  members,  will  give  a  fair 
index  to  their  correspondence  with  the  prevailing 
morality  of  the  time.  It  is  in  the  differences  between 
the  customs  of  one  group  and  those  of  other  groups 


Subgroup 
standards 
may  vary 
from  folk 
group 
standards 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  153 

with  whom  they  transact  business  that  will  be  found  Conflicts  of 
many  of  the  disputed  and  debated  questions  of  trade  subgroup 
morals   which    are   always   vexing   so   long   as   the  morals 
common  ground  of  a  folkwide  moral  principle  fails 
to  be  found. 

The  bearing  of  these  subgroup  differences  upon 
the  development  of  business  morals  during  the  course 
of  the  existing  social,  industrial  and  economic  evolu- 
tion is  most  important.  The  course  of  this  evolution 
has  been  rapid,  especially  during  the  last  five  decades 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  the  first  decade  of  the 
twentieth. 

Business  groups  are  dependent  upon  the  satisfac-  Business 
tion  of  their  interests  for  their  origin,  development  groups  the 
and  continuance.     The  interests  which  bind  a  busi-  outcome 
ness  group  together  and  make  it  effective  as  a  con-  c 
stituent  factor  in  folkgroup  welfare   are  economic 
interests,  and  the  functional  activity  of  the  group  is 
proportioned  to  the  degree  of  satisfaction  obtained. 
This  satisfaction  is  economically  expressed  by  the 
margin  between  the  cost  of  its  subsistence,  and  the  Profit  the 
remuneration  which  existing  conditions  permit  it  to  economical 
obtain  from  its  activities  within  the  folkgroup.    The  exPress>°n 
conditions     are    the    nurtureways    combined    with       interests 
natural  and  geographical  surroundings.    The  remun- 
eration is  variously  known  as  revenue,  wages,  fees, 
rates,    commissions,    etc.      The    marginal    result    is 
profit. 

Business  in  the  last  analysis  is  based  upon  the 
extent  and  potency  of  the  desires  of  subgroups  in 


154 


TRADE  MORALS 


Business 
results  from 
differences 
in  the 
folkways 


Profits 
propor- 
tioned to 
differences 
in  folkways 


domestic  trade,  and  of  folkgroups  in  foreign  com- 
merce, to  exchange  their  surplus  products  so  as  better 
to  satisfy  the  interests  arising  from  the  motive 
powers  of  instincts  and  other  forms  of  mental  activ- 
ity, known  to  us  by  the  terms  hunger,  love,  vanity, 
fear,  etc.  The  primary  expression  of  these  interests, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  through  the  folkways.  Business 
is,  therefore,  due  to  an  effort  to  cater  to  the  folkways 
which  it  discovers  in  groups  whose  needs  it  is  organ- 
ized to  supply.  Obviously  the  reason  why  it  can 
succeed  is  because  there  is  a  difference  between  its 
folkways  and  that  of  the  group  it  serves.  Bakers 
sell  their  products  to  bankers  and  not  to  other  bakers. 
If  manufacturing  bakers  sell  to  retail  bakers  it 
is  because  the  latter  are  really  traders  and  not  of 
the  industrial-manufacturing  group  so  far  as  the 
transaction  is  concerned. 

Business  profits  are  evidently  in  some  way  propor- 
tioned directly  to  differences  between  the  folkways 
of  groups.  Between  an  Indian,  whose  folkways  pro- 
moted the  easy  acquisition  of  fur-bearing  skins,  and 
John  Jacob  Astor,  whose  folkways  were  favorable 
to  the  importation  of  toys  or  muskets,  the  exchange 
of  commodities  was  immensely  profitable;  the  Indian 
getting  something  that  satisfied  his  hitherto  unap- 
peasable vanity  and  curiosity,  the  merchant  being 
able  to  exchange  the  furs  against  money  at  a  net 
profit,  after  paying  all  expenses,  of  four  or  fivefold 
the  cost.  A  stock  exchange  broker  will  do  business 
for  a  fellow  member  of  the  board,  whose  folk- 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  155 

ways  closely  assimilate  his  own,  at  a  gross  profit  of 
two  hundredths  of  one  per  cent,  out  of  which  his 
sustenance  is  still  to  come.  While  folkway  dissimi- 
larities may  in  fact  be  rightly  considered  a  large 
determinant  of  business  profit  there  are  doubtless 
other  factors,  not  to  be  overlooked.  One  of  these  is 
folk-custom,  rather,  however,  as  an  inhibitant  than 
as  a  stimulant,  for  the  economic  interests  of  the  busi- 
ness groups  are  always  subordinate  to  folkgroup 
interests,  and  are  limited  by  its  moral  laws. 

It  is  not,  however,  for  the  ultimate  welfare  of  the  Results  of 
social  organism  that  it  should  starve  or  throttle  any  folkgroup 
of  its  component  organs.    Unfortunately  folk-feeling  antagonism 
is  not  infallible.     Through  ignorance — mass  delu-  to  lts  own 
sions,  hoaxes  or  superstitions — business  groups  are  members 
sometimes  unfairly  treated,  or  discriminated  against 
by  the  folkgroup.     And  for  the  same  reasons  they 
are  sometimes  unduly  stimulated;  as  by  high  protec- 
tive tariffs,  or  by  statutory  favoritism.     In  the  long 
run  the  community  pays  out  of  its  own  pocket  the 
price  of  its  ignorance,  just  as  do  the  individuals,  who 
for  similar  reasons  misuse  or  maltreat  their  bodily  Examples 
organs.     France  suffered  for  centuries  the  depletion  abroad 
of  her  best  intelligence  through  the  persecution  of 
the  Huguenots.     Spain's  intellectual  decline  began 
with  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  and  Jews.     Ger- 
many's treatment  of  her  grain  traders  was  paid  for 
by  the  agrarians  themselves  as  well  as  by  all  con- 
sumers of  breadstuffs.     The  people  of  New  York 
have  paid  at  the  nose  for  their  attempt  to  limit  the 


156 


TRADE  MORALS 


Examples 
at  home 


The  com- 
munity 
suffers  by 
retaliatory 
legislation 


profits  of  the  money-lending  groups  by  usury  laws 
passed  in  the  supposed  interest  of  the  farming  group, 
whose  decline  is  partly  attributable  to  that  cause. 
Missouri's  vengeful  attitude  toward  insurance  com- 
panies has  been  paid  by  her  insurers  both  in  cash  and 
in  loss  of  credit.  For  many  years  the  laws  of  Texas 
and  California  so  discriminated  against  non-resident 
lenders  that  their  merchants  lost  that  power  of  com- 
manding credit  which  was  needful  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  resources  of  the  land,  and  for  a  rapid 
increase  of  population.  Business  risks  are  still 
greater  there  than  in  most  other  states,  and  such  risks 
are  compensated  by  the  consumer  in  the  price  of 
merchandise.  Enterprise  along  certain  lines  has  now 
and  again  been  throttled  by  the  too  exclusive  control 
granted  by  our  patent  laws;  and  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  dislodge  white  phosphorus  poisoning 
except  for  the  humanistic  attitude  of  the  Diamond 
Match  Company,  which  controlled  the  safer  pro- 
cesses. For  the  tariff  favors  granted  to  the  wool  and 
woolen  interests  the  people  have  paid  a  double  toll 
in  the  inferior  quality  and  enhanced  cost  of  their 
clothing  over  a  period  of  forty  years.  If  the  object 
of  a  law  is  to  satisfy  the  animosities  or  prejudices  of 
groups  or  sections,  rather  than  to  ensure  the  maxi- 
mum efficiency  of  the  existing  activities  of  a  business 
group  in  the  work  which  it  has  to  perform,  the  com- 
munity itself  will  have  to  foot  the  bill. 

Materially  decreased  profits  mean  a  diversion  of 
capital  to  other  forms  of  enterprise,  so  that  the  struc- 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  157 

ture  affected  by  a  misdirected  antagonism  becomes 
anemic  and  less  able  to  discharge  its  natural  functions 
in  the  furtherance  of  the  commonweal.  If  on  the 
contrary  one  of  the  subgroups  be  over-advantaged, 
remote  and  unintended  results  may  follow — witness 
the  growth  of  cities,  the  consequent  relative  dispro- 
portion of  tenants  to  landowners,  and  the  decrease 
in  personal  welfare  which  comes  from  an  unsatisfied 
normal  land-hunger,  the  spread  of  panaceal  dogmas, 
the  growing  scarcity  of  the  food  supply — due  to  the 
favoritism  shown  to  the  manufacturing  subgroups 
since  the  Civil  War. 
To  summarize : 

1.  Economic  conduct  is  a  means  of  adjusting  the  Summary 
lives  of  persons  to  their  environment — of  procuring 
individual  welfare. 

2.  Exercised  within  group  limits  it  is  always  con- 
ditioned by  moral  impulse;  which  is  in  fact  one  ele- 
ment of  a  person's  environment. 

3.  Normally,  therefore,  the  economic  impulses 
are  not  in  conflict  with  the  moral  impulses. 

4.  In  their  evolution,  however,  their  progress  is 
sometimes  ahead  of,  sometimes  behind,  that  of  the 
moral  impulses. 

5.  This  gives  rise  to  conflicts,  and  may  produce 
confusion,  uncertainty  and  business  losses. 

6.  Business   is   human   activity  with   respect   to 
exchanges  of  services,  commodities  or  money. 

7.  Business  may  be  classified  in  accordance  with 
groups  who  perform  it. 


158  TRADE  MORALS 

8.  The  business  groups  are: 

A.  Industrial:  in  business  to  the  extent  of 
their  exchanges;  in  self-sufficing  indus- 
try there  is  no  business. 

1 i )  Extractive :    farmers    and   miners, 
producing  raw  materials. 

(2)  Manufacturing:  producing  finished 
articles. 

B.  Trading:  exchanging  the  products  of  the 
industrial  groups. 

C.  Transportation:    distributing    the    pro- 
ducts and  exchanges  of  the  industrial  and 
trading  groups. 

D.  Financial :  mobilizing  the  surplus  capital 
of  the  industrial,  trading  and  transporta- 
tion groups. 

E.  Laboring:  selling  services  to  industrial, 
trading  and  transportation  groups. 

[Groups  B,  C,  D  and  E  are  wholly  in  business.] 

F.  Professional:   selling  special  knowledge 
or  skill  to  the  other  groups,  and  to  that 
extent  in  business. 

9.  Conduct,  in  each  of  these  groups,  is  deter- 
mined by  three  factors:  (a)  economic  impulses,  (b) 
moral  impulses,  and  (c)  their  average  level  of  self- 
consciousness. 

10.  Each   group    has    class-ways,    class-customs 
and,  therefore,  group  morals  peculiar  to  itself,  which 
do  not  always  accord  with  folkgroup  morals. 


THE  ECONOMIC  IMPULSES  159 

11.  The  vitality  of  business  groups  is  dependent 
upon  the   incentive   of  profit;  i.e.,  the  margin  of 
earnings  above  subsistence. 

12.  The  earnings  of  business,  and,  therefore,  its 
profits,  are  due  to  differences  in  folkways  between 
business  groups  or  between  folkgroups. 

13.  Business  groups  perform  functions  by  which 
the  folkgroup  exists  in  that  state  of  civilization  (i.e., 
of  complexity)  to  which  it  may  have  developed. 

14.  Business    groups    are    interdependent;    and 
reciprocally  dependent  on  the  folkgroup,  to  which 
they  stand  in  the  relation  of  functional  organs  to  an 
organism;  and  therefore 

15.  Stimuli  and  inhibitions,  applied  by  the  folk- 
group  to  its  business  groups,  react  upon  the  folkgroup 
and  further  or  impede  its  welfare. 


IX 

BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  TWEN- 

TIETH  CENTURY  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES 


We  have  seen  that  moral  conduct  is  the  volition- 
ally  regulated  outcome  of  the  balance  of  two  often 
The  conflicting  sets  of  impulses,  formed  in  the  human 

balance  of     mind  from  habits  or  modes  of  behavior  derived 
conduct-       from   physical   environment,   and   habits   or   modes 
impulses        of  conduct  derived  from  social  contact.     It  is  like  a 
deliberative  body  divided  into  three  parties,  two  of 
them    strong   and   nearly   equal   and   one   of   them 
weak,    but    holding    the    balance    of    power.      The 
stronger  parties  are  natureways   and  nurtureways, 
the  weaker  and  yet  generally  determinative  party  is 
Controlled     self-consciousness.    All  of  these  sets  of  impulses  are 
by  the  product  of  evolution,  slowly  progressing  over  a 

personality  long  period  of  time.  There  is  a  unison  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  orders  of  life,  of  society  through  its 
various  phases,  of  conduct  through  its  various 
modes,  of  morals  with  its  adjuncts,  and  of  mind  as  it 
rises  from  one  level  to  another  of  self-consciousness. 
By  comparison  of  the  degrees  of  evolution  attained 
by  the  better  known  of  these  factors  at  any  given 
time  or  place,  we  can  proceed  to  make  tentative 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  161 

inferences  as  to  the  degree  of  evolution  and  prob- 
able operation,  at  the  same  time  and  place,  of  the 
lesser  known  factors.    This,  in  fact,  is  the  hypothe-  Inference 
sis  which,  by  degrees,  we  have  been  developing  in  the  of  the 
study  of  social,  moral  and  mental  evolution  that  has  unknown 
been  sketched  in  the  preceding  chapters.     The  end       m 
we  now  have   in  sight  is  the   application   of   this 
hypothesis   to   the   business   conditions   of  the   first 
decade  of  the  twentieth  century,  and  as  conducive  to 
that  purpose  we  have,  in  the  last  chapter,  reviewed 
the  set  of  impulses  derived  from  economic  motives, 
and  have  endeavored  to  discover  their  place  in  the 
final  determination  of  business  conduct,  at  the  same 
time  analyzing  the  business  structure  to  which  they 
are  applied.     If  this  review  is  sketched  in  outline 
rather  than  pictured  in  detail,  it  is  because  the  object 
of  this  essay  is  rather  suggestive  than  final,  being 
designed    to    stimulate    research    and    classification 
along  lines  of  discovery  of  which,  at  present,  we  have 
but  vague  and  hardly  formulated  ideas.     It  has  the 
further  purpose  of  presenting  to  business  men,  pres- 
ent and  prospective,  a  method  of  interpreting  busi-  The 
ness   conduct   and   its   relations   to   the   community,  method  of 

which  may  perhaps  assist  in  the  advance  of  their  interpreting 

• 

vocation  from  the  plane  of  an  empirical  art  to  that 
of  a  scientific  profession — along  which  lines  it  is 
now,  but  all  too  slowly,  developing. 

What  are  the  conditions  of  economic,  moral  and   Present-day 
personal  environment  in  the  United  States  today,   environ- 
and  from  what  have  they  proceeded?  ment 


162 


TRADE  MORALS 


Population 
and  its 
conditions 
in  1790 


Transpor- 
tation in  the 
eighteenth 
century 


The  facts  of  the  environment  with  which  at  the 
opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  our  forefathers 
were  confronted,  were  as  markedly  different  from 
those  with  which  their  descendants  had  to  cope  at 
its  close,  as  today  between  Asia  and  America,  Mada- 
gascar and  Massachusetts,  or  Peking  and  Phila- 
delphia. During  no  previous  time,  and  at  no  pre- 
vious place  in  the  history  of  the  world,  have  the 
conditions  of  life  been  so  changed  or  so  great  an 
alteration  in  manners  and  customs  made  manifest  in 
so  short  a  time. 

Substantially  all  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States,  then  about  one  twentieth  of  its  present  num- 
ber, lived  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge  or  Alleghany 
mountains  and  south  of  the  Penobscot  or  north  of 
the  Savannah  rivers.  Ten  times  as  many  souls  now 
inhabit  the  same  territory.  In  it  there  were  only  six 
cities  of  over  eight  thousand  inhabitants  (Phila- 
delphia, New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Charleston 
and  Salem)  where  now  there  are  four  hundred  and 
nineteen.  The  main  concentration  of  population 
was  on  the  coast  and  by  the  banks  of  rivers,  of  which 
the  Connecticut,  Hudson,  Delaware,  Susquehanna, 
Potomac,  James  and  Savannah  were  navigable  for 
upwards  of  a  hundred  miles  from  their  mouths. 

Transportation  then,  as  now,  was  the  key  to  the 
formation  and  concentration  of  social  groups;  and 
the  only  practical  means  of  freightage  was  by  water. 
In  methods  of  land  transport,  little  improvement 
had  been  made  for  nearly  two  thousand  years.  In 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  163 

the  eighteenth  century  London  was  no  nearer  Rome 
than  it  was  in  Caesar's  time.  Travel  was  mainly  on 
horseback,  except  on  the  four  or  five  post  routes. 
On  those  roads  a  maximum  speed  of  forty  miles  a 
day  could  be  maintained,  on  others  fifteen.  At  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  it  cost  $12.24  to  transport  a 
hundredweight  of  merchandise  from  Philadelphia 
to  Erie,  Pa.,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles.  A 
stone  road,  crudely  constructed,  had  been  built  from 
Philadelphia  to  Lancaster  toward  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  in  1806  a  National  Turnpike 
across  the  Alleghanies,  to  connect  Cumberland, 
Md., — the  head  of  boat  navigation  on  the  Poto- 
mac— with  the  western  country  was  begun.  In 
twenty  years  it  had  been  completed  only  as  far  as 
Zanesville,  Ohio.  But  such  crude  interstate  transpor- 
tation as  this  and  other  highways  could  furnish  was 
speedily  made  obsolete  by  the  opening  of  the  Erie 
Canal. 

Before  our  Revolution,  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater  Water 
had  introduced  a  canal  system  into  Great  Britain,   carriage  by 
and  by  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century  its  canal 
success  had  been  demonstrated.     In  this  country  the 
first  canals  were  naturally  designed  to  extend  the 
already  existing  but  imperfect  means  of  river  trans- 
port— and   by   their   means   a    number   of   eastern 
interior  settlements  had  been  brought  to  tidewater. 
But  it  was  left  for  the  Erie  Canal,  begun  in  1817  and   The  Erie 
finished  in  1825,  to  alter  the  distribution  of  popula-   Canal 
tion  almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  as  an  earth- 


164 


TRADE  MORALS 


to  steam 
navigation 


quake  may  change  the  course  of  a  river  or  create  a 
great  lake  out  of  a  fertile  valley.  In  the  next  twenty 
years  it  made  New  York  the  commercial  metropolis 
of  the  country,  formed  an  outlet  for  the  rich  farming 
districts  of  western  New  York,  and  founded  the 
industrial  cities  of  Utica,  Syracuse,  Rochester  and 
Buffalo.  At  one  clip  it  cut  the  cost  of  transporting 
a  hundred  pounds  of  merchandise  between  New 
York  and  Buffalo  from  five  dollars  to  ninety  cents. 
It  put  the  Philadelphia-Pittsburgh  route,  with  its  rate 
of  $11  per  hundredweight,  out  of  business  in  five 
Its  relation  minutes.  Following  upon  the  heels  of  Fulton's  great 
invention  of  steam  navigation,  which  linked  it  up  at 
either  end  with  industrial  possibilities,  the  Erie 
Canal  became  the  trunk  of  a  cheap  water  route  along 
which  poured  freights  and  families,  like  the  sap 
which  a  tree  gathers  by  its  rootlets  and  distributes 
through  its  leaves.  It  revolutionized  business  by 
halving  the  cost  of  the  imports  and  manufactures  of 
the  East  to  the  western  settler.  The  possibility  of 
exchanging  these  against  his  products  began  his  con- 
version from  a  self-sufiicing  farmer  into  a  business 
man.  Lumber  came  in  vast  quantities  from  the 
forests  of  New  York  and  iron  from  Ohio.  In 
twenty  years  the  population  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and 
Michigan  increased  from  700,000  to  nearly  3,000,- 
ooo.  A  canal  to  the  Ohio  River  and  steam  naviga- 
tion upon  the  western  rivers  distributed  another 
stream  of  settlers  and  merchandise  through  the 
Southwest. 


The 

westward 
flow  of 
population 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  165 

The  most  important  trade  route  was,  however, 
fixed  by  the  greater  economy  of  the  canal  and  lake 
route,  drawing  men  from  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land, scattering  them  in  the  mid- West ;  leavening  the  Its  effect  on 
typical  folkways  of  the  frontier  while  binding  it  by  folk-feeling 
ties  of  trade  and  sentiment  to  the  East.  An  influx  of 
German  liberals,  following  the  unsuccessful  revo- 
lutions of  1830  and  1848,  established  themselves  at 
the  western  branchlets  of  the  canal  in  groups  whose 
contribution  to  the  industrial,  intellectual  and  moral 
growth  of  the  prairie  states  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. DeWitt  Clinton,  in  fact,  had  won  the 
field  of  Gettysburg  forty  years  before  the  battle  was 
fought,  and  had  sounded  the  knell  of  the  folk-custom 
of  slave  labor  when  Lincoln  was  a  boy  of  sixteen. 

Towns — Erie,  Cleveland,  Sandusky,  Toledo,  Growth  of 
Detroit — sprang  up  along  the  line  of  march.  Chi-  cities 
cago  and  Milwaukee  were  made  possible.  In  the 
thirty  years  following  the  first  census,  the  proportion 
of  urban  to  rural  population  had  but  slightly  in- 
creased, more  than  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  people 
still  lived  in  the  country  or  in  the  smaller  towns,  and 
the  number  of  cities  of  eight  thousand  inhabitants  or 
more  had  hardly  more  than  doubled.  But  in  the  five 
decades  after  1820,  the  number  of  these  cities  prac- 
tically doubled  with  every  decade,  until  in  1870  more 
than  one  fifth  of  the  entire  population  lived  in  cities 
of  this  size.  In  the  succeeding  forty  years  this  pro- 
portion had  doubled,  and  two  fifths  of  the  people 
were  in  this  class  at  1910. 


166 


TRADE  MORALS 


Influence  All  of  the  older  cities  are  on  the  waterways.    This 

of  railways  tendency  was  not  profoundly  altered  by  the  advent 
of  the  locomotive,  invented  by  Stephenson  in  1825, 
and  it  was  not  until  after  1850  that  the  railroads 
began  to  influence  the  folkways  of  urban  preference 
and  their  resultant  folk-customs.  The  reason  is  not 
far  to  find.  Up  to  the  Civil  War  the  efficiency  of  the 
railroad  as  a  means  of  cheap  transportation  was 
undetermined.  It  could  not  compete  with  water 
freight,  and  in  many  cases  could  not  compete  with 
wagons  over  the  now  improving  highroads.  Rail- 
road operation  had  to  await  the  invention  of  the 
telegraph  and  of  the  steam  gauge  in  1849  to  make  it 
practical.  Even  then  it  had  to  wait  for  cheap  steel 
before  it  could  be  economically  successful.  The 
introduction  of  the  Bessemer  process  in  1870  com- 
pleted the  conditions  under  which  it  has  become  so 
potent  a  factor  in  the  shaping  of  our  twentieth 
century  folkways  and  folk-customs. 

Effect  of  The  evolution  of  business  is  everywhere  condi- 

cheap  trans-  tioned  by  cheapness  of  transport.     Every  penny  off 
port  on          the  freight  rate  makes  it  possible  to  effect  exchanges 
folkways        over  a  wider  territory,  tends  to  break  down  folk- 
ways of  self-sufficing  industry  in  which  there  is  a 
minimum  of  business,  and  to  replace  them  with  folk- 
ways derived  from  the  economic  impulse  to  exchange 
surplus  products,  group  against  group,  in  which  there 
is  a  maximum  of  business. 

And   so  the    evolution   of   the   business    groups, 
which  had  begun  in  a  small  way  on  the  seaboard,  and 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  167 

in  the  area  tied  to  it  by  natural  waterways,  went  on  Rapid 
by  leaps  and  bounds  over  a  constantly  widening  area,  growth  of 
In  the  farming  group  of  extractive  industrials,  there  tne  business 
grew  up   a   progressive   tendency  to   specialize   in  2rouPs 
response  to  an  increased  demand  for  specialities,  the 
outcome  of  city  folkways.    The  general  farmers  of 
Colonial  days  formed  a  strong  group  whose  common 
interests    were    modified    only   by   territorial    sepa- 
ration.    Their  intragroup  sympathy  was  in  direct 
ratio  to  the  uniformity  of  their  folkways,   and  of 
the  ensuing  body  of  folk-custom.     But  with  urban 
growth  and  the  increase  of  cheap  transportation  a  — in 
new  kind  of  agricultural  service  was  required;  and  extractive 
the  concomitant  breaking  up  of  the  farming  group  industry 
into  a  large  number  of  specialty  groups  has  had 
important  reactions  upon  the  folk-customs  and  moral 
impulses  of  the  entire  folkgroup. 

Increasing  concentration  of  population  always 
spells  a  loss  of  self-sufficing  qualities,  and  the  old 
folk-custom  must  vanish  as  independence  is  lost. 
Only  forty  years  ago  the  milk  supply  of  the  city  Urban  milk 
groups  was  obtained  either  from  cows  kept  in  their  supply 
own  stables,  or  freshly  milked  from  farms  close  to 
the  point  where  it  was  to  be  ultimately  consumed. 
Morning's  milk  could  be  served  on  the  breakfast 
table  of  men  of  moderate  means,  and  for  the 
poorest,  the  previous  night's  milking  was  always 
available.  The  continued  aggregation  together  of 
larger  masses  of  people  increased  land  values  and 
drove  the  milking  herds  a  little  farther  into  the 


168 


TRADE  MORALS 


Bacterial 
infection  its 
controlling 
factor 


Changing 
folkways 
— in  cities 


— on  the 
farms 


country;  but  it  was  not  until  after  1850  that  dairy 
farming  became  a  distinct  type.  The  folkways  of 
the  consuming  adult  of  the  city  group,  with  respect  to 
milk  drinking,  have  materially  changed  with  the 
increasing  distance  of  the  source  of  supply,  but  it  is 
still  a  necessity  for  children,  and  here  the  folkway 
changes  are  less  marked.  The  controlling  factor  is 
the  susceptibility  of  the  product  to  bacterial  infec- 
tion. In  milk  the  production  of  bacteria  is  enor- 
mously rapid;  under  favorable  conditions  billions 
may  breed  in  a  single  cubic  centimeter  within  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  fluid  now  reaches  the  larger  cities 
from  a  zone  three  or  four  hundred  miles  in  radius. 
For  example,  milk  trains  begin  to  move  on  New 
York  the  forenoon  of  the  day  before  the  beverage 
can  be  delivered;  therefore,  instead  of  twelve  hours 
old  at  the  worst,  it  is  twenty-four  hours  old  at  the 
best,  and  much  of  it  has  gone  thirty-six  and  forty- 
eight  hours  since  it  was  drawn  from  the  cow. 

The  effect  of  these  conditions  on  urban  folkways 
has  been  to  change  folkways  ( I )  of  keeping  dairy 
cows  within  city  limits,  (2)  of  feeding  them  with 
swill  or  fermenting  brewer's  grains,  (3)  of  consum- 
ing milk  fresh  from  the  cow  or  chilled  only  by  stand- 
ing through  the  night,  (4)  of  feeding  non-sterilized 
milk  to  infants,  (5)  of  adult  drinking  of  milk  as  a 
beverage,  (6)  of  its  use  in  the  treatment  of  disease, 
and  probably  many  others.  The  farming  folkways 
of  self-sufficing  agriculture,  formed  during  the  lapse 
of  twenty  centuries,  have  been  equally  disturbed. 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  169 

( i )  Cattle  are  no  longer  kept  as  an  adjunct  to 
general  farming,  but  as  the  producers  of  a  money 
crop,  (2)  the  barns  in  which  they  are  kept  have  to 
be  specially  constructed,  (3)  higher  standards  of 
cleanliness  are  upheld,  (4)  there  is  a  growing  ten- 
dency to  co-operation  in  bottling  and  selling,  ( 5 )  ice 
is  stored  or  manufactured  on  the  farm,  (6)  the  milk 
is  immediately  cooled,  (7)  dairy  cows  are  tested  for 
tuberculosis,  and  the  infected  ones  destroyed,  (8) 
much  milk  is  pasteurized  or  sterilized,  and  (9) 
through  the  requirements  of  city  folkways,  farm- 
ing is  being  transformed  into  a  strictly  business 
enterprise,  and  is  being  concentrated  in  large  and 
highly  specialized  units.  The  reaction  of  these 
urban  and  industrial  changes  upon  the  folkways  of 
the  transportation  group  has  been  ( I )  the  building 
of  large  freight  cars  on  passenger  trucks,  often  with 
refrigeration,  (2)  their  equipment  with  air  brakes,  — in  the 
(3)  first-class  rights  allowed  milk  trains  on  railway  transporta- 
time-tables,  (4)  it  has  been  a  factor  in  the  double  ^on  grouP 
tracking  and  standard  gauging  of  railway  lines  as 
they  approach  city  groups,  and  (5)  in  their  equip- 
ment with  steel  rails,  stone  ballast  and  signal  systems 
for  heavier  and  more  rapid  traffic. 

Some  of  these  folkways  have  become  folk-customs  Develop- 
and  have  been  institutionalized  by  statute  law,  estab-  ment  of 
lishing  standards  for  milk  purity,  regulating  its  sale  folk-cus- 
and  delivery  in  large  cities,  forbidding  the  practice  toms  *rom 
of  swill  feeding,  and  providing  for  the  inspection  of         new 
milk  vessels  and  dairies  or  a  quarantining  period  for 


170 


TRADE  MORALS 


imported   cattle.      Among   the    formal   institutions 
which  have  been  created  wholly  or  in  part  to  pro- 
mote the  recognition  of  these  folk-customs  are  state 
— and  of        dairy   inspections,    colleges   of   agriculture,    agricul- 
institutional   tural  experiment  stations  and  farmers'  co-operative 
adjuncts         organizations  to  the  number  of  eighty-five  thousand. 
Among  their  economic  effects  are  increased  wages 
Economic      for  farm  labor,  now  more  than  double  those  of  the 
effects  preceding  half  century,  and  a  fourfold  to  sixfold 

increase  in  the  efficiency  of  an  acre  of  land. 

In  finance  it  has  created  funds  drawn  from  the 
accumulated  profits  of  other  industries  to  lend  to 
farmers  for  improvements,  to  establish  great  milk- 
handling  corporations,  to  lend  to  railroads  for  the 
Financial       increase   of  their   facilities,   and  it   has  led  to  the 
effects  enlargement  of  the  deposit  and  exchange  functions 

in  country  banks.  As  a  secondary  reaction  there  is 
a  demand  for  funds  to  finance  extensions  in  the  steel 
and  machinery  industries,  and  collaterally  with  the 
improvement  of  running  time  on  milk  trains  there 
is  an  improvement  in  the  facilities  for  local  passenger 
travel  on  the  railroads. 

Sociological  Business  groups  have  been  promoted  of  dairy- 
effects  men,  of  creamerymen,  of  milk  middlemen,  and  the 
unionization  of  railway  employees  is  materially 
strengthened  by  the  need  for  their  co-operation  in  a 
service  of  such  imperative  necessity  to  the  welfare  of 
the  city  groups. 

Such  changes  have  the  increase  and  enlargement 
of  the  city  groups  made  necessary  in  the  folkways  of 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  171 

an   industry,    in   social    and   economic   groups,    and 
in  human  institutions.     Similar  changes,  I  may  add, 
have  been  produced  in  thousands  of  other  social  and  Similar 
economic  groups  likewise  affected  by  great  and  sud-  effect  of 
den  changes  in  the  folkways  of  urban  people,  so  that  urban  life 
there  is  hardly  a  social  or  industrial  group  that  has  c 
not  been  obliged  to  accommodate  itself  and  its  folk- 
ways  to   the  unparalleled  changes   in   environment 
produced  by  the  movement  of  population  during  the 
last  forty  or  fifty  years.    A  vast  amount  of  folkways, 
the  outcome  of  human  experience  in  past  ages,  has 
been  thrown  on  the  scrap-heap,  and  an  enormous 
number  of  new  ones  as  yet  uncatalogued  has  been 
called  for  to  accommodate  the  modern  structure  of 
society  to  the  changed  conditions  of  its  life.     And 
with   them   have   gone   time-honored   folk-customs, 
to  be  replaced  with  new,  tediously  built  up  in  the  folk- 
group  by  discussion,  debate  and  final  adoption  into 
folk-feeling. 

In  effect  equal  to  the  results  produced  upon  folk-  Changes  in 
customs  by  a  concentration  of  population,  were  those  folk-custom 
caused  by  the  suddenness  and  magnitude  of  its  diffu-  from 
sion  in  a   frontier  country.     The  conditions  under  western 
which  a  pioneer  in  a  newly  settled  territory  must  settlement 
necessarily  seek  welfare  are  radically  different  from 
the  environment  under  which  the  citizen  of  a  well- 
established    community    pursues    his    more    conven- 
tional way.    The  pioneer  of  the  decades  of  1820  to 
1870  had  to  cope  with  the  scarcity  of  stored  provi- 
sion for  subsistence,  with  the  dangers  of  a  wilderness 


172  TRADE  MORALS 

inhabited  by  wild  beasts  and  savages,  and  with  the 
Need  for  pressing  need  for  immediate  results.  Capital  which 
immediate  was  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  natural 
results  resources  about  him,  he  did  not  possess,  and  he  was 

fain  to  procure  its  usufruct  as  best  he  might.  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  folkways  of  the  interest  rate 
for  capital  went  far  beyond  the  limits  which  had  been 
fixed  by  those  of  the  elder  states.  To  compensate  the 
lender  and  to  induce  freedom  in  lending,  terms  based 
Its  effect  on  upon  the  legal  and  customary  interest  rates  plus  a 
finance  share  in  the  profits  were  promised,  the  latter  being 
capitalized  at  the  start  by  issues  of  so-called 
"watered"  stock.  The  exaggerated  self-reliance  of 
the  pioneer,  overconfident  of  his  powers,  led  to  the 
inception  of  all  kinds  of  "wild-cat"  enterprises,  the 
like  of  which  Dickens  has  pungently  satirized  in 
Martin  Chuzzlewit.  The  inflated  promises  of  the 
promoter,  but  half  realized  in  the  end,  became  a  part 
of  the  folk-custom  of  pioneer  finance,  approved  by 
the  overconfidence  of  frontier  groups.  This 
approval  gave  the  opportunity  to  the  fraudulent 
financier,  who  always  thrives  under  the  protection  of 
any  folk-  or  class-custom  which  he  can  turn  to  per- 
sonal advantage  through  affected  compliance  and 
deceit. 

Such  are  but  two  examples  of  the  tremendous 
changes  in  folkway  and  folk-custom  due  to  the 
breaking  up  of  self-sufficing  industry  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  produced  by  the  development  of 
transportation  and  by  the  environmental  and  struc- 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  173 

tural  changes  which  followed.     A  similar  account 
could  be  given  of  almost  any  one  of  the  fundamental 
processes  whereby  food  or  raw  materials  are  ex- 
tracted from  the  earth  and  converted  to  the  use 
of  civilized  need.     In  every  instance,  the  few  and  The  effects 
simple  groups  of  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  of  Steam 
have  been  obliged  to  abandon  the  easy  folkways  P°wer 
accruing  from  hundreds  of  years  of  use  and  experi- 
ence,  and  to  break  up  into  many  and  specialized 
subgroups   that,   with  great  toil   and   effort,   have 
struggled  during  the  latter  half  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  novel  conditions  forced  up  by  the  discoveries 
of  the  Age  of  Steam.     As  well  as  anywhere,   an 
illustration  can  be  borrowed  from  the  history  of  our 
textile  evolution.     In  the  self-sufficing  farmstead  of  Folkway 
the  early  nineteenth  century,  the  sheep  that  nibbled  changes  in 
on  its  upland  pastures  were  shorn  in  the  spring  by  the  textile 
the  men  of  the  household,  their  wool  was  carded  by  industry 
hand  or  by  the  local  miller,  and  in  the  fall  or  winter 
spun,    woven    and    shaped    into    garments    by    the 
women  of  the  house.     Of  tools,  the  shear,  distaff, 
spindle  and  hand  loom  had  existed  in  practically  the 
same  form  since  prehistoric  times.    They  were  used 
by  the  Egyptians,  Greeks  and  Romans  long  before 
the  Christian  era.    Woolcombing  was  introduced  by 
St.   Blasius  in  the   fourth  century,   and  the   single- 
thread  spinning  wheel  is  seen  pictured  in  illuminated 
manuscripts  of  the  fourteenth,  but,  at  least  in  the 
early  days,  it  had  failed  to  dislodge  the  distaff  from 
the  folkways  of  the  colonists.     Allusion  to  women's 


174 


TRADE  MORALS 


Power 
applied  to 
spindle  and 
loom 


Power 
applied  to 
the  needle 


former  monopoly  of  the  spinster's  art  survives  in 
our  popular  expression  for  maternal  ancestry  as  "the 
distaff  side."  These  primitive  methods  of  making 
cloth  and  clothing  had,  therefore,  been  ingrained  in 
the  folkways  of  many  hundreds  of  years  when,  at 
the  breaking  out  of  our  Revolution,  Hargreaves, 
Arkwright  and  Crompton  were  perfecting  machines 
to  spin  several  threads  at  once;  and  these,  after  the 
introduction  into  this  country  in  1813  of  Cart- 
wright's  invention  of  the  power  loom,  gave  birth  to 
the  factory  system.  By  1825  "tens  of  thousands  of 
men  and  women  who  would  have  been  doomed  to 
eke  out  a  scanty  livelihood  by  farming,  cobbling  or 
unskilled  labor,  now  found  new  opportunities  before 
them"  and  so  adopted  new  folkways  from  which  new 
folk-customs  had  to  be  devised. 

The  impetus  which  the  power  loom  had  given  to 
the  growth  of  the  textile  factory  system  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  clothing  trades  by  the  invention  of  the 
sewing  machine.  Ready-made  clothing  had  been 
introduced  in  a  small  way  as  early  as  1831,  to  em- 
ploy journeymen  tailors  during  their  idle  seasons, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  fifth  decade  of  the  century 
that  the  employment  of  machinery  and  the  division 
of  labor  made  possible  great  economies  in  the  mak- 
ing of  both  men's  and  women's  suits.  As  a  conse- 
quence the  home-making  of  men's  clothes  has  entirely 
disappeared  as  a  folkway,  as  has  also,  in  large 
measure,  that  of  the  dress  of  women.  The  adjust- 
ment of  the  textile  industry  to  these  folkways  is  the 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  175 

cause  of  a  large  part  of  its  profit  in  recent  years.  It 
has  profitably  ventured  the  adaptation  of  the  folk- 
ways of  one  group  of  women,  who  preferred  an  inde- 
pendent wage  to  a  communistic  family  subsistence, 
to  a  new  folkway  of  using  ready-to-wear  garments. 
While  the  group  of  women  wage-earners  was 
acquiring  one  folkway,  the  family  group  was  acquir- 
ing the  other  folkway,  in  place  of  common  folkways 
which  both  groups  had  formerly  shared,  and  the 
textile  manufacturer  found  his  opportunity  of  profit 
in  catering  to  these  changes. 

The  changes  on  which  these  new  business  relations 
depended  were,  therefore,  at  once  the  cause  and  the 
outcome  of  the  factory  system,  which,  in  its  nine-  Genesis  of 
teenth  century  development,  was  the  product  of  four  the  factory 
factors — mechanical  invention,  cheap  power,  im-  system 
proved  transportation,  and  the  growing  folkway  of 
the  industrial  exchange  of  surplus  products  replac- 
ing the  declining  folkway  of  self-sufficing  industry. 
The  factory  system,  in  so  far  as  it  served  as  an 
instrument  of  adjusting  these  changing  folkways  to 
each  other,  was  a  device  of  great  importance  to  social 
welfare,  and  so  was  adopted  by  society  as  a  folk- 
custom.  In  New  England,  prior  to  1850,  it  was  a 
means  of  escape  for  the  women  and  children  from 
the  dreary,  unsocial  atmosphere  of  the  inland  farm- 
stead; a  means  of  support  for  many  whose  home 
labor  had  been  displaced  by  altered  ways  of  life ;  and 
a  means  of  culture  for  those  who  were  brought  into 
contact  with  the  mental  and  religious  advantages 


176  TRADE  MORALS 

which  only  can  be  afforded  by  a  more  concentrated 
community  which  is  accumulating  wealth.     To  these 
Its  spiritual    it  added  the  moral  advantages  of  disciplined  employ- 
advantages     ment  over  idleness  and  of  happiness  over  discontent. 
If  the  hours  were  unduly  long,  the  pace  was  not  so 
intense  as  to  prohibit  intellectual  avocations ;  witness 
Lucy  Larcom  and  the  "Lowell  Offering."     Similar 
conditions  prevail  today  in  large  measure  over  the 
South,  where  the  group  of  the  cotton  mill  is  a  prime 
factor  in  the  uplift  of  the  mountain  whites. 
Its  interpre-       The  factory  system  is,  therefore,  something  more 
tation  than  the  mere  outcome  of  economic  impulses,  since 

it  furthers  new  adjustments  of  the  lives  of  individuals 
to  their  environment  along  lines  of  ethical  as  well  as 
industrial  efficiency.  In  the  period  under  review  this 
system  was  passing  through  a  process  of  continual 
development,  whose  rate  of  motion  was  in  direct 
proportion  to  those  folkway  changes  which  had 
made  it  practicable.  Such  changes  came  out  of  the 
need  for  the  adjustment  of  conduct  to  certain  other 
changes  which  have  been  taking  place  in  both  the 
Other  environment  and  structure  of  our  American  folk- 

groupal          group,  following  a  series  of  remarkable  inventions, 
changes         affecting  directly  the  industrial  and  transportation 
promoted      groups,  whose  object  was  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
1  power  derived  from  steam.    The  following  table  will 
suggest   concisely   some   of   the   groupal   metamor- 
phoses which  have  called  into  existence  a  tremendous 
volume  of  new  nurtureways. 


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182 


TRADE  MORALS 


Summary 
of  groupal 
changes 
1860-1910 


Urban 
groups 


Farming 
groups 


Factory 
groups 


These  figures  illustrate  succinctly  the  essential 
features  of  the  condition  and  growth  of  the  business 
groups  during  the  last  half  century.  They  are  typical 
and  characteristic — a  volume  could  be  compiled  of 
which  these  are  only  a  few  instances.  From  them  we 
may  infer  that  in  the  last  half  century 

A.  The  folkgroup,  expressed  in  terms  of  popu- 
lation ( i ) ,  has  nearly  trebled.    This  rate  of  increase 
is  the  base  rate  for  the  other  comparisons  for  the 
same  period.     The  ten,  thirty  and  forty  year  com- 
parisons are  based  upon  similar  differentials  for  their 
respective    periods.       Relative    increase    means    a 
growth  greater  than  that  of  the  base  rate,  relative 
decrease  a  lesser  rate. 

B.  The  drift  from  rural  to  urban  life,  say  to 
towns  and  cities  of  over  eight  thousand   (13),  has 
been  three  times  as  rapid  as  the  growth  of  the  popu- 
lation.   The  rate  of  increase  in  the  rural  population 
(7)  has  been  a  little  more  than  half  that  of  the  whole 
growth.    The  farming  group  (53)  has  grown  about 
eight  tenths  as  fast  as  the  folkgroup. 

C.  There  was   (21-27)   a  rapid  formation  and 
increase  of  heterethnic  subgroups  largely  of  the  un- 
skilled labor  class,   the  entry  of  which  into  many 
industries  has  disturbed  and  complicated  their  cur- 
rent ethical  adjustments. 

D.  The  increase  in  the  groups  laboring  in  all 
factories  (31)  has  been  at  a  rate  about  four  times 
that  of  the  folkgroup. 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  183 

1.  While  laboring  groups  employed  in  an  essen- 
tial,  basic   and   age-long   established   industry,   the 
smelting   of   iron    (42),    have   materially    declined  Iron 
relatively  to  the  population,  the  total  capital  invest-  industry 
ment  (43)  has  increased  at  nearly  a  tenfold  ratio, 
probably  indicating  a  large  increase  in  the  groups 
financially  interested  in  iron  making.     As  compared 

to  forty  years  ago,  the  output  of  pig  iron  per  mechan- 
ical unit  of  production  (47)  has  increased  thirty-fold 
while  that  of  each  unit  of  the  laboring  group   (48)    Labor  and 
has  increased  less  than  tenfold.    The  effect  of  capital  capital  in 
in  promoting  efficiency  in  this  particular  industry  is,  contrast 
therefore,  twice  as  great  as  that  of  the  labor  em- 
ployed (45,  46,  47).     In  number  the  establishments  Administra- 
making  pig  iron  (41 )  have  decreased  actually  27  per  tiveconcen- 
cent  so  that  relatively  to  population  they  are  now  trati°n 
only  36  per  cent  of  the  basis  of  1860.     There  is  a 
great   degree  of  concentration  of  this   industry  in 
large  units  under  the  control  of  a  comparatively  few 
condensed  administrative  groups.     In  each  of  these 
concentrated  units  the  average  laboring  group  (44)    Labor  con- 
is  nearly  three  and  a  half  times  as  large  as  in  1860.  centration 

2.  The    number    of    textile    groups    (33)     has 
grown  only  one  third  as  fast  as  the  folkgroup,  while  Textile 
the  capital  used  by  them   (36)  has  grown  six  times  industry 
faster;  and  the  total  laboring  group  in  their  employ 

(34)  has  grown  not  quite  twice  as  fast  as  population. 
There  is  a  moderate  concentration  of  this  industry 
into  larger  units,  in  each  of  which  the  average  labor- 


184 


TRADE  MORALS 


ing  group  is  two  and  a  half  times  as  great  as  in  1860 

(35). 

Clothing  3.     Certain    other    industrial    groups    especially 

industry  favored  by  changes  in  the  folkways  have  grown  to 
large  proportions  out  of  little  or  nothing;  as  in 
women's  clothing  (39),  where  the  establishments 
have  increased  twelve  times  and  the  laboring  group 
(40)  thirteen  times  faster  than  population. 

Trading  E.     Trading  groups  (54)  have  grown  at  a  rate 

groups  of  about  one  and  a  half  to  one  and  three  quarters 
times  that  of  the  folkgroup;  this  in  spite  of  a  large 
increase  in  the  turnover  of  each  trading  unit,  due  to  a 
trebling  in  the  average  density  of  the  population. 
Increased  turnover  accounts  partly  for  an  increase  in 
labor  employed  (58)  by  these  groups  between  1860 
and  1900  of  623  per  cent  or  four  and  a  third  times 
that  of  the  population. 

Transpor-          F.     It  is  in  the  transportation  groups  that  the 
tation  most   startling  changes  have  taken  place.      Large 

groups  subgroups,  such  as  telegraphers  and  telephone  em- 

ployees, have  grown  like  mushrooms.  Fifteen  mil- 
lion miles  of  telephone  circuit,  with  its  appurtenant 
groups  of  officials  and  employees,  has  been  the  crea- 
tion of  thirty  years.  Since  1 860  the  mileage  of  steam 
railroad  lines  (60)  has  increased  three  and  one  half 
times  as  fast  as  population  and  their  laboring  groups 
(62)  nearly  twenty-three  times  as  fast.  The  most 
Street  marvelous  growth  is  that  of  the  street  railway  sys- 

railways  tem  (61),  which  has  increased  ninety-eight-fold  or 
fifty  times  faster  than  population;  its  laboring  groups 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  185 

(63)  at  less  than  half  that  rate,  owing  to  the  econ- 
omies resulting  from  the  change  of  motive  power. 

G.     Financial    groups    have    grown    greatly    in  Financial 
excess  of  populational  increase.     Bankers  and  brok-  groups 
ers  (67)  had  increased  four  and  a  half  times  faster 
than  population  in  the  forty  years  ending  in  1900, 
and  in  the  full  half  century  the  banks  themselves 

(64)  grew  seven  times  more  rapidly  than  the  people; 
their  officials  increasing  at  nearly  four  times  that 
rate  (66). 

H.  Among  the  professions,  engineers  (72),  Professional 
statistics  of  whom  for  the  full  half  century  are  not  groups 
yet  available,  increased  more  than  five  times  as  fast 
as  population  in  the  first  forty  years  and  will  doubt- 
less show  still  more  phenomenal  progress  when  the 
results  for  1910  are  known.  A  large  group  of  elec- 
tricians (73)  has  grown  out  of  nothing.  The  exten- 
sion of  education  is  reflected  in  an  increase  of 
teachers  (68)  in  forty  years  at  twice  the  popula- 
tional rate.  The  other  older  professions  except  that 
of  medicine  (69)  have  grown  more  rapidly  than  the 
folkgroup.  The  increase  of  the  group  of  lawyers 
(70),  more  than  one  and  a  half  times  that  of  the 
population  between  1860  and  1900,  is  plainly  corre- 
lated to  the  business  expansion  and  rapid  evolution 
of  new  custom  characteristic  of  that  period,  resulting 
in  unsettlement  and  conflict,  which  in  the  national 
social  phase  is  resolved  by  the  peaceful  and  orderly 
processes  of  the  common  law.  It  may  be  queried,  as 
it  is  yet  too  early  to  determine,  whether  the  relative 


186  TRADE  MORALS 

decrease  of  this  group  during  the  last  decade  is  due 
to  a  later  progress  toward  a   relative  stability  of 
custom,  or  to  other  conditions,  thus  far  unobserved. 
I.     It  is  impossible  with  our  present  data  to  give 
Laboring       more   than    a    superficial    account    of   the   laboring 
groups  groups.    Farm  laborers  (74)  and  domestic  servants 

(75)  show  a  relative  decrease.  The  exploitation 
of  our  mineral  wealth  is  reflected  in  the  great  growth 
of  the  group  of  miners  (76),  and  the  increased 
luxury  of  living  by  that  of  house  mechanics — carpen- 
ters, masons,  plumbers,  painters  and  the  like  (77). 
The  census  volume  of  occupations  in  1910,  when 
published,  will  give  the  basis  for  many  more  instances 
of  phenomenal  change  in  the  group  structure  of 
American  society  during  the  half-century  than  are 
now  available. 

Such  changes,  calling  for  a  prodigious  creation 
of  new  folkways,  class-customs,  folk-customs  and 
humanistics,  are  the  outcome  of  efforts  made  by  the 
folkgroup  to  adjust  itself  to  the  novel  conditions  by 
which  it  has  been  confronted  during  these  years  of 
extraordinary  motion  and  exceptional  change.  A 
further  pursuit  of  the  line  of  investigation,  of  which 
the  more  important  features  have  been  developed  in 
the  foregoing,  will  display  a  period  characterized  not 
only  by  an  immense  growth  of  new  business  groups 
and  by  the  development  of  old  ones  in  new  directions, 
but  by  ethical  conflicts  due  to  an  admixture  of  alien 
races,  folkways  and  folk-customs  with  our  own, 


BUSINESS  CONDITIONS  187 

which  has  been  briefly  touched  upon  in  the  foregoing 
discussion.  We  are  now  prepared  more  deliberately 
to  discuss  the  question  of  the  ethical  consequences  of 
heterethnic  immigration,  which  will  be  the  main 
subject  of  the  next  succeeding  chapter. 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING 


Effect  of 
economic 
conditions 
on  social 
structure 


We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  the  operation  of 
two  conditions,  arising  from  economic  impulses, 
which,  during  the  last  half  century,  have  profoundly 
influenced  a  series  of  far-reaching  changes  in  the 
structure  of  our  American  society.  The  first  of  these 
forceful  conditions  is  the  movement  of  the  popula- 
tion (a)  toward  pioneer  conditions,  (b)  toward  city 
life.  The  second,  beginning  as  a  reaction  from  the 
first  and  then  reacting  upon  it,  is  an  industrial  reor- 
ganization, leading  to  the  substitution  of  economic 
exchange  and  intergroupal  distribution  of  products  in 
place  of  the  folkways  of  self-sufficing  agriculture 
inherited  from  the  remote  past.  These  changes 
have  promoted  the  decay  of  many  long-established 
folkways  and  folk-customs,  and  from  them  have 
sprung  new  folkways  out  of  which  society  is  attempt- 
ing to  re-create  its  system  of  folk-custom  and  human- 
istics,  so  that  its  life  may  be  more  completely 
adjusted  to  the  environment. 

Economic  profit  is  the  incentive  for  the  formation 
of  a  business  group;  and  profit,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
the  result  of  differences  in  the  folkways  of  social 
groups.  Therefore,  the  first  response  to  these 
broad,  continuous  and  rapid  folkway  changes  was  a 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       189 

widening  of  the  opportunities  of  gain,  encouraging  Growth  of 
a  rapid  growth  of  new  business  groups  to  perform  new 
the  exchanges  needed  to  adjust  the  lives  of  the  grow-  business 
ing  subgroups  to  the  changing  folkgroup  structure.  £rouPs 
By  1893  the  United  States  had  grown  from  a  simple 
series  of  territorial  groups,  united  by  needs  of  self- 
defense  and  self-development,  into  a  complex  series 
of  interpenetrating  business  groups,  united  by  the 
most  imperative  ties  of  economic  interdependence — 
from  a  simple  segmented  type  into  a  complex  organic 
type,  with  intercommunicating  systems  of  nerves  and 
arteries.     The  pursuit  of  greater  efficiency  in  this 
movement  influenced  the  progress  of  invention  and 
the  formation  of  ever  more  highly  specialized  busi- 
ness subgroups  to  carry  the  burdens  imposed  by  this 
altered  folkgroup  structure  in  order  to  perform  its 
industrial,  transportative,  trading,  financial,  laboring 
and  professional  functions. 

But  custom  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth,  and  the 
class-customs  which  these  groups  have  been  called 
upon  to  create  have  naturally  been  more   or  less  Slower 
experimental   in   character,    hastily   formed   or   im-  readjust- 
perfectly  adapted  to  needs,  and  the  work  of  choosing  rnent  of 
from  them  the  folk-customs  and  adapting  from  them  folk-custom 
the  humanistics  has  proceeded  apace,  but  under  the 
sore  trial  of  almost  revolutionary  conditions.     Insti- 
tutional adjuncts,  like  legislation,  which  is  always  a   Inefficiency 
laggard  behind  folk-feeling,  have  meddled  rather  of 
than  assisted  in  the  change,  and  the  hesitation  of  the  institutional 
religious  organizations  in  accepting  the  changes  in  at*Juncts 


190 


TRADE  MORALS 


modes  of  thinking  which  are  the  inevitable  outcome 
of  such  folkway  changes,  has  deprived  the  churches 
of  their  wonted  influence  in  support  of  the  higher 
moral  ideals.  As  has  already  been  observed,  the 
normal  function  of  such  institutional  adjuncts  is  that 
of  buttresses  to  a  completed  moral  structure  rather 
than  that  of  scaffolds  in  its  construction.  We  have 
now  to  consider  two  other  conditions  of  our  moral 
evolution — the  influence  of  immigration  and  the 
remodeling  of  business  method  in  the  period  under 
review. 

Immigra-  For   the    effect    on    folk-custom    of    the    sudden 

tion —  absorption  of  many  millions  of  people  of  alien  race 

will  rank  in  potency  with  the  sudden  diffusion  of  one 

part  of  our  population  and  the  sudden  concentration 

of  another.     From  the  known  ratios  of  increase  of 

the  population  it  may  be  inferred  that  immigration 

— in  the         during  the  eighteenth  century  was  an  almost  negli- 

eighteenth      gible  quantity.     An  analysis  of  the  family  surnames 

century          enumerated  in  the  census  of  1790  shows  that  over  90 

per   cent    of   the    then   population    was    of    British 

descent.     Six  in  a  hundred  were  of  German  origin, 

about  two  Dutch  and  less  than  two  Irish.     Little 

changes  in  these  conditions  were  effected  in  the  first 

quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

But  following  the  great  expansion  which  was  the 

result  of  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the  foreign 

— in  the         influx  began.    In  the  previous  decade  every  one  thou- 

nineteenth     sand  of  the  native  population  had  to  assimilate  but 

century          one  foreigner  annually,  but,  between  1830  and  1840, 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       191 

this  had  increased  to  two  a  year  and  in  the  next  five 
years  to  four.  In  1845  came  the  crop  failure  which 
produced  the  Irish  famine,  and  the  annual  immigra- 
tion rate  jumped  at  once  to  ten  in  the  thousand  of 
the  native  population.  By  1850  one  tenth  of  the 
people  were  of  foreign  birth  and  more  than  one 
quarter  of  foreign  birth  and  parentage.  Today  a 
third  of  our  population  is  either  foreign-born  or  the 
children  of  foreigners. 

These  people  were  not  only  aliens  by  birth,  but  by 
language,  folkways,  folk-custom  and  religion.   Their  Alien  folk- 
moral  ideals  have  been  formed  by  previous  environ-  ways  and 
ment,  in  great  measure  under  the  influence  of  perse-  f°lk- 
cution   or  oppression   from   which  they  have   fled.  customs 
Deceit  and  fraud  are  always  sanctioned  by  the  folk- 
custom  of  persecuted  or  oppressed  groups,  because  it 
is  by  these  means  only  that  they  are  fitted  to  survive 
the  uncontrolled  domination  of  a  master  race.    The 
weaker  group  is  in  the  same  case  as  a  child  brought  The 
up  by  exacting  and  irascible  parents,  who  in  self-  influence  of 
defense  is  certain  to  become  crafty  and  untruthful,  persecution 
The  customs  of  the  Irish  peasant  immigrant  were 
those  of  a  folkgroup  which  had  not  passed  the  clan 
or  at  most  the  tribal  phase,  with  a  proportionately 
weak   development    of   peace-customs.      The    folk- 
custom  of  the   Russian-Jewish  urban  immigrant  is 
that  of  tribal  groups,  welded  together  by  heterethnic 
oppression.    In  both  instances,  the  external  environ- 
ment of  persecution  suppressing  truth  folkways  had, 
in   fact,   established   the    folk-custom   of   outgroup 


192 


TRADE  MORALS 


Dual 

conscience 
a  condition 
of  survival 


The 

problem  of 
assimilation 


Under-de- 
velopment 
of  self- 
conscious- 
ness 


deceit  as  a  condition  of  survival.  This  gave  rise  to 
the  phenomenon  of  dual  conscience  described  by 
Mary  Antin.  "The  Gentiles  .  .  .  said  our  mer- 
chants and  money  lenders  preyed  upon  them,  and 
our  shopkeepers  gave  false  measure.  People  who 
want  to  defend  the  Jews  ought  never  to  deny  this. 
.  .  .  We  cheated  the  Gentiles  wherever  we  dared 
because  it  was  the  only  thing  to  do.  .  .  .  Wherever 
we  could  we  spared  our  own  kind,  directing  against 
our  social  foes  the  cunning  wiles  which  bitter  need 
invented.  ...  A  Jew  could  hardly  exist  in  business 
unless  he  developed  a  dual  conscience  which  allowed 
him  to  do  to  the  Gentiles  what  he  would  call  a  sin 
against  a  fellow  Jew." 

Until  immigrants  of  this  kind  become  assimilated 
socially  as  well  as  territorially,  they  are  slow  to 
adopt  our  folk-customs  or  to  maintain  our  moral 
standards.  American  moral  ideals  are  already 
adjusted  to  a  structure  and  an  environment  out  of 
which  have  grown  the  folkways  and  folk-customs, 
resultants  of  more  than  two  centuries  of  individual 
freedom,  of  struggle  with  nature  and  of  conditions 
of  unimpeded  and  vigorous  growth.  Moreover,  a 
large  part  of  this  immigration  is  of  men  who,  by 
lack  of  previous  contact  with  the  higher  social 
phases,  have  only  attained  the  lower  levels  of  self- 
consciousness,  and  in  whom,  therefore,  the  motive 
powers  of  the  self-regarding  sentiments  of  pride  and 
self-respect  are  undeveloped.  This  multitude,  sud- 
denly injected  into  such  an  environment  and  among 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       193 

such  folk-customs,  have  to  do  business  in  order  to 
live,  and  it  is  some  time — often  two  generations  or  How  alien 
more — before  they  learn  how  to   subordinate   the  folk-custom 
folk-customs  arising  out  of  oppression  to  those  that  impairs 
are    formed   by    freedom;    or    to    attain    the    self-  business 
conscious  levels  which  are  the  outcome  of  life  in  a  r 
folkgroup  of  the  nation  type.    The  tendency  of  these 
alien  groups  is  to  settle  in  the  great  mercantile  cities, 
of  whose  population  they  and  their  children  form 
three  fourths  or  more.     So  it  is  that,  in  places  like 
New  York  and  Chicago,  there  is  barely  more  than 
a  fifth  of  the  population  whose  respect  for  folk- 
customs,  formed  out  of  the  native  environment,  is 
based  upon  an  experience  of  more  than  a  single 
generation  of  descent.1 

Our  ethical  peril,  in  fact,  is  not  a  yellow  but  a  The  white 
white  one ;  not  beyond  the  Pacific,  but  at  home.  The  peril 
anarchy  that  it  injects  into  our  peace-loving  customs 
is,  of  course,  relative.  Tribal  customs  may  be  perfect 
adjustments  of  tribal  life  to  its  environment  and  yet 
may  be  the  source  of  serious  conflict  when  imported 
into  national  conditions.  The  characteristic  solu- 
tion of  conflict  in  clan  and  tribal  phases  of  society  is 
war,  and  therefore  appeals  to  force  may  sometimes 
explode  within  a  more  civilized  folkgroup  which  is 
endeavoring  to  assimilate  tribal  groups.  Those  who 
have  fled  from  oppression  are  often  unskilled  in  the 

1  Is  it  not  also  probable  that  the  disproportionate  excess  of  males 
in  this  inflow  has  an  influence  on  sex  morals  which  can  hardly  be 
overestimated  ? 


194 


TRADE  MORALS 


The  white 
man's 
burden  in 
the  United 
States 


Change  in 
business 
methods 
1860-1910 


methods  of  peaceful  compromise  by  which  groupal 
adjustments  are  effected  in  a  democracy.  Inter- 
groupal  conflicts  which  penetrate  the  innermost 
structure  of  the  national  organism  are  a  peril  which 
calls  for  energy,  patience  and  courage  on  the  part  of 
all  who  have  a  stake  in  the  higher  ethical  adjustments 
to  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  attained.  This  is 
presently  more  difficult  by  reason  of  the  excursion  of 
business  organization  beyond  the  bounds  of  person- 
ality; and  it  would  be  impossible  were  it  not  for  the 
democracy  of  our  public  life  and  public  school,  and 
for  the  efforts  of  our  social  workers. 

No  nation  in  history  has  ever  had  such  a  Sisy- 
phean task  laid  upon  its  shoulders,  as  to  absorb  in 
fifty  years  a  third  its  own  numbers  of  subject  races, 
fleeing  from  the  domination  of  political  ideals  less 
humanistic  than  our  own,  and  to  adapt  to  their  own 
the  imported  folk-customs  arising  from  this  cause. 
As  a  white  man's  burden  there  is  nothing  to  compare 
with  it  short  of  the  overflow  of  the  Germanic  tribes 
into  Europe  in  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era. 

Hand  in  hand  with  these  protean  racial  group 
movements  has  gone  a  change  in  the  methods 
of  the  older  established  business  which  is  at  least  of 
equal  force  in  begetting  changes  in  folk-custom.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  business  competition,  by 
which  the  margin  of  profit  is  restricted,  was  feeble. 
Under  the  existing  conditions  profits  were  corre- 
spondingly high.  The  reason  for  this  is  plain.  Ex- 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       195 

changes,  on  which  business  profit  is  founded,  depend 
upon  differences  in  the  folkways  of  the  groups 
between  which  the  commodities,  money  or  services 
are  exchanged.  The  business  profit  of  the  trade 
between  the  Indians  and  the  settlers  was  great 
because  of  the  wide  divergencies  of  their  respective 
folkways.  In  the  same  way  arose  the  large  profits 
of  the  British  exploitation  of  India,  of  the  mediaeval 
trade  between  Italy  and  the  Orient,  and  of  the 
ancient  business  relations  of  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Greeks.  While  gross  profits  accrue  from  diverse 
folkways,  the  competition  to  obtain  them  is  regu- 
lated by  the  interaction  of  ability,  capital  and  credit 
on  the  perils,  secrets  and  distances  involved  in  inter- 
groupal  trade. 

Now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  the  disparity  Large 
of  folkways  between  the  then  unspecialized  ingroup  profits  in 
of  American  traders  and  the  outgroups  with  whom  the  first  half 
they  did  business  was  enormous.     Buying  rice  and  °f  t^le 
tobacco  from  the  planter  groups  at  low  prices,  these  nlneteent" 
traders  supplied  the  ability,  knowledge  and  capital  ( 
for  shipping  them  to  England,  separated  from  us  by 
distances  and  secrets,   and  by  extraordinary  perils 
during  the  wars  of  Napoleon  and  of  1812.     Never- 
theless, the  average  of  perils,  distances  and  secrets 
was  less  between  ourselves  and  Great  Britain  or  the   Features  of 
Indies  than  that  involved  for  them  in  obtaining  from  outgroup 
other    shipping    groups    the    naval    stores,    cotton,   trade  before 
tobacco,  rice  and  flour  needed  by  them,  and  so  the  f^e  Civil 
business  was  both  large  and  profitable  to  our  mer- 


196  TRADE  MORALS 

chants  and  to  theirs.  And  of  British  manufactures, 
as  well  as  of  West  Indian  sugar,  molasses  and  ma- 
hogany, we  were  eager  buyers  at  large  profits, 
because  our  social  structure  and  climatic  environment 
had  not  established  folkways  of  these  industries  with- 
in our  own  groups.  Similar  conditions  prevailed  in 
the  exchange  of  our  ginseng  root  and  silver  dollars 
against  the  tea,  coffee,  muslins  and  silks  of  the  East; 
so  great  were  the  risks  and  so  wide  the  divergences 
of  folkways  that  the  customary  profit  was  to  double 
the  capital  investment  by  every  voyage.  In  the  trade 
with  our  own  Indian  tribes,  with  an  even  greater 
disparity  of  folkways,  a  basket  of  toys  or  an  old 
musket  would  buy  furs  on  the  wharves  of  New  York 
which  could  be  disposed  of  in  London,  after  paying 
all  expenses,  to  an  advantage  of  400  to  500  per  cent. 
The  enormous  profits  of  slaving  and  smuggling  were 
due  to  folkway  differences  between  ourselves  and 
outgroups  which  are  too  obvious  to  enumerate. 
1890-1910  But  in  the  last  two  decades  the  elements  contrib- 
Suppression  uting  to  profit  have  vastly  changed.  Business  perils 
of  perils  have  been  almost  eliminated  by  almost  universal 
— of  secrets  peace.  Business  secrets  have  been  abolished  by  the 
telegraph  and  the  printing  press.  Distances  have 
— of  been  annihilated  by  the  steamship,  the  railroad,  the 

distances        telephone  and  the  trolley  car.     Trading  skill  and 
knowledge  have  been  diffused  by  a  school  system 
which  trains  disproportionate  numbers  of  the  popu- 
Diffusion       lation  to   clerkly   aspirations,    for  until   the   recent 
of  skill  development  of  the  engineering  function  in  business, 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       197 

the  education  that  was  generally  given  to  the  great 
mass  of  common  school  pupils  was  sufficient  for  a 
start  in  the  store.  For  a  population  only  two  and  a 
third  times  that  of  1870  there  are  four  times  as 
many  independent  firms  rated  by  the  commercial 
agencies.  In  each  period  of  depression  the  competi- 
tion between  overstimulated  industrial  and  trading 
groups  has  grown  more  bitter,  until  the  old-time 
profits  have  disappeared. 

Up  to  thirty  years  ago  office  operations  were 
performed  by  business  clerks  in  the  same  way  that 
they  had  been  for  more  than  two  centuries,  but  in 
spite  of  the  typewriter,  the  duplicating  carbon,  the 
loose-leaf  ledger,  the  card  index  and  the  calculating 
machine,  which  have  diminished  the  effort  of  routine 
business  operations  by  at  least  two  thirds,  the  use 
of  clerical  labor  has  increased  four  times  as  fast  as 
population.  Between  1870  and  1900  the  number  of 
commercial  travelers  increased  thirteen-fold.  Part 
of  this  showing  is  doubtless  due  to  the  increasing 
specialization  of  business  functions,  but  taking  all 
these  classes  together  their  rate  of  increase  has  been 
at  least  double  that  of  the  population  which  they 
serve.  These  progressive  changes  toward  more  Diffusion  of 
widespread  knowledge  of  business  have  wrought  business 
havoc  with  the  rate  of  profit,  and  it  is  now  impossible,  knowledge 
save  in  a  few  little-known  specialties  based  upon 
folkway-differences  of  small  and  isolated  groups,  to 
accumulate  a  fortune  from  the  profits  of  a  business 
of  small  or  moderate  size. 


198 


TRADE  MORALS 


To  meet  this  emergency  the  pace  of  trade  had  to 

The  folk-      be   vastly   accelerated.      Where   a   marginal   profit 

way  of  sufficient  to  support  a  given  organization  could  no 

quick  longer  be  had  from  small  sales,  such  firms  as  could 

trading  not  COmpass  the  necessary  increase  have  had  to  go 

out  of  business.     Business  organizations  have  been 

more   constantly   employed   in   out-of-season   work, 

and  the   number   of   transactions   accomplished   by 

them  has  been  proportionately  increased  so  as  to 

meet  the  fall  of  net  profits  from  an  average  of  20 

or  25  per  cent  on  the  amount  of  the  sale,  to  one  of 

from  i  to  4  per  cent  on  the  same.     Quick  trading 

involving  the  minimum  of  time  to  each  transaction 

has  become  a  commercial  necessity;  in  it  lies  all  the 

hope  of  gain  and  the  possibility  of  survival;  this  has 

involved  changes  in  every  productive  industry  and 

in  the  operations  of  every  trading  group. 

In  pursuit  of  this  ideal,  products  can  no  longer  be 
irregularly  produced;  they  must  be  standardized, 
so  as  to  be  described  by  catalogue  or  by  word  of 
mouth,  rather  than  by  such  personal  inspection  as 
was  the  custom  before  1875;  or  even  by  showing 
of  samples,  a  folkway  which  arose  later.  Even  this 
is  not  enough;  and  as  in  quick  trading  lies  all  the 
— in  trans-  hope  of  gain  and  the  possibility  of  survival,  so  must 
portation  also  the  operations  of  business  be  standardized  as 
well  as  the  merchandise.  In  the  same  direction  has 
reacted  powerfully  the  growth  of  markets  following 
the  increase  of  population  and  of  its  constituent 
groups.  To  fit  these  most  important  changes  in 


Folkways  of 
standardiza- 
tion in  mer- 
chandise 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       199 

folk-custom,  forced  by  the  decline  of  profit  and  the 
resultant  necessity  of  quick  trading,  grow  new  stan-  — in  busi- 
dards  of  conduct  which  are  the  modern  morals  of  ness  con- 
trade.     The  rapidity  of  the  changes  in  methods  and  duct 
customs  which  have  been  characteristic  of  the  grow- 
ing age  of  steam  and  the  budding  age  of  electricity, 
have    made    it    difficult    for   minds   trained   in   the 
methods   and   customs   of   an   earlier   part   of   this 
period  to  grasp  the  moral  necessities  of  its  finish. 

Standardization  itself  has  in  time  become  a  potent 
factor  in  laying  the  foundation  for  a  still  further 
enlargement  of  industrial  production.     By  making 
possible  the  exchange  of  large  quantities  of  standard- 
ized   merchandise    units,    it    has    stimulated    their 
production    by    concentration,    that    is    to    say,    by  Folkways  of 
combination    of    smaller    productive    groups     into  concentra- 
larger,  more  economical  units  under  a  single  manage-  ^on 
ment.     Doubtless  the  impetus  given  to  certain  indus- 
tries by  folkways  of  tariff  protection  has  been  a  con- 
dition contributing  to  the  movement  toward  combi- 
nation,   as    a    relief    from    overstimulation    of    the 
formation    of    subgroups.      In    some    industries    a   Of 
further  step  has  been  taken  by  integration,  the  knit-  integration 
ting  together  into  one  compact,  harmonious  whole  of 
all  their  related  branches,  or  of  all  the  necessary 
processes,  in  the  conversion  of  a  raw  material  into 
the  finished  product.    Taking  for  example  iron  and 
steel,   the   first  step  was  the   consolidation   of  the 
formerly  competing  companies  of  each  branch  into 
such  organizations  as  the  Tube  Company,  the  Steel 


200 


TRADE  MORALS 


The  Steel 
Corpora- 
tion 


A  type  of 
integrated 
industry 


Other  types 
of  concen- 
tration 


and  Wire  Company,  the  Bridge  Company,  etc. ;  next 
the  integration  of  these  with  their  rival,  the  Carnegie 
Company,  into  the  enormous  industrial  group  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  through  the  addition 
of  mining  companies,  producing  the  ore;  of  barge 
and  steamship  lines  and  railways,  transporting  it;  of 
coal,  coke  and  limestone  companies,  producing  the 
materials  for  smelting;  together  with  a  number  of 
selling,  engineering  and  financial  groups,  devising  and 
exchanging  the  finished  product.  These  various  com- 
binations formed  a  single  integrated  group  to  extract 
the  stored-up  forces  of  nature,  to  manufacture  them 
without  break  of  continuous  treatment  into  finished 
commodities  and  finally  to  deliver  these  to  their  ulti- 
mate consumer.  Such  processes  have  eliminated  the 
scattered  mines,  forges  and  blast  furnaces  which 
produced  our  iron  in  the  early  seventies;  have  created 
railways  and  steamship  lines  for  the  service  of  a 
single  industry,  and  have  greatly  simplified  and 
standardized  its  product.  In  forty  years  (1870- 
1910)  the  number  of  blast  furnaces  decreased  from 
386  to  208,  while  their  annual  product  increased 
from  1,800,000  tons  to  27,000,000.  While  the 
metal  working  trades  are  perhaps  the  most  conspicu- 
ous examples  of  the  concentrative  process,  yet  it  has 
gone  forward  in  almost  every  line  of  staple  pro- 
duction. The  number  of  concerns  making  men's 
clothing  decreased,  1870-1905,  42  per  cent,  while  the 
value  of  their  output  increased  two  and  a  half  times 
on  a  much  lower  scale  of  prices.  Between  1870  and 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       201 

1910  the  number  of  slaughtering  establishments 
increased  only  38  per  cent,  while  their  product  grew 
seventeen-fold.  Two  thirds  of  the  woolen  mills  went 
out  of  existence  during  the  same  period,  but  those 
that  remained  made  two  and  a  half  times  as  many 
goods  as  before. 

Nowhere  has  the  potency  of  these  forces  been  Labor 
more  revolutionary  in  its  effect  than  in  the  duties  and 
efficiency  demanded  of  the  labor  groups  in  all  indus- 
tries. Average  wages  of  ordinary  labor  have  more 
than  doubled,  but  in  forty  years  the  relations  of  the 
laborer  to  his  industry  have  been  subject  to  changes 
such  as  had  not  been  accomplished  in  the  preceding 
four  centuries. 

Take  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  as  an  example.  The  boot 
In  1870  there  were  more  than  twice  as  many  fac-  and  shoe 
tories  as  in  1910.     At  the  earlier  date  the  average  industry 
number  of  workers  in  a   factory  was  twenty-nine,   1870-1910 
each  producing  annually  877  pairs  worth  $1600.    In 
1910  the  average  number  of  wage-earners  was  130, 
each  with  a  product  for  the  working  year  of  1539 
pairs,  worth  $2400.     The  organization  of  the  in- 
dustry has  been  revolutionized  to  produce  this  result. 
The  division  of  labor  into  three  operations,  cutting, 
sewing  and  tapping,  which  was  the  outcome  of  a 
standardization  of  sizes  effected  in  the  last  year  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  had  prevailed  down  to  1845,   Group 
when  the  simultaneous  invention  of  a  sewing  machine  specializa- 
for    uppers    and    hand-power    peg    drivers    started  tionthrough 
a  new  movement  of  specialization.     The  invention  invent|on 


202 


TRADE  MORALS 


Elaborate 
division  of 
labor 


Folkway 

changes 

involved 


of  the  power  pegging  machine  in  1855  was  followed 
by  that  of  the  power  sewing  machines  of  Mackay 
and  Goodyear  in  1860  and  1871.  Before  1900  the 
three  primary  labor  operations  involved  in  making 
a  pair  of  shoes  had  been  subdivided  into  twenty-one. 
To  further  cheapen  the  product  this  process  of  sub- 
division and  the  speed  at  which  it  is  carried  on  has 
been  almost  indefinitely  increased.  Writing  in  1903, 
the  expert  of  the  Mosely  Industrial  Commission 
reported  of  a  certain  factory  that  "Labour  is  divided 
and  subdivided  to  such  an  extent  that  it  would 
require  my  personal  presence  on  the  firm  for  at  least 
a  fortnight  to  detail  it."  He  expressed  surprise  to 
see  the  operation  of  skiving  uppers,  in  England  per- 
formed by  one  woman,  in  Brockton  performed  by 
four  men  on  machines,  each  operator  paring  one  side 
only  of  the  leg.  And  his  guide  remarked,  "If  only 
the  fractional  part  of  a  second  is  saved  in  each  opera- 
tion it  tells  up  in  the  course  of  twelve  months'  work- 
ing." He  found  all  who  were  on  machines  working 
"as  hard  as  possible,  .  .  .  the  machinery  running  at 
the  highest  speed  and  the  operators  .  .  .  had  to 
keep  their  eyes  skinned  and  their  fingers  in  motion." 
The  progressive  specialization  of  such  an  industry 
not  only  involves  large  innovations  in  folkways, 
disturbs  long-standing  relations  of  settlement  and 
housing — for  formerly,  while  the  sewing  was  done  in 
factories,  the  soling  was  done  in  the  household — 
revolutionizes  the  relations  between  employers  and 
their  help,  etc.,  but  brings  forward  immense  moral 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       203 

questions  as  to  the  outcome  of  these  changes — the 
right  to  contract,  the  right  to  work  long  hours,  the 
right  to  employ  women  and  children,  the  right  to 
pursue  private  economic  welfare  at  the  cost  of 
groupal  welfare,  the  right  of  employers  to  manage 
the  business,  their  duties  as  to  the  protection  of  high 
speed  machines,  the  rights  of  labor  unions  to  inter- 
vene, the  rights  of  laborers  to  determine  who  their 
fellow  workmen  shall  be.  The  moral  principles 
involved  in  many  of  these  questions  are  not  yet 
settled,  but  in  the  process  of  adjustment,  unstable  or 
undetermined  folkways  and  folk-customs  have  led  to 
confusion  and  conflict. 

In  every  industrial  group,  especially  in  times  of  Trade 
trade    depression,    the    struggle    with    diminishing  depressions 
profits  has  evolved  new  folkways  of  efficiency,  of  an^ 
standardization  and  of  the  relations  between  master  f°lkway 
and  servant;  and  of  these  many  have  not  yet  been  chan£es 
absorbed  into  the  mass  of  general  ethical  principle 
which  as  morals  it  is  our  object  to  discuss.     Trade 
depression  is  a  potent  cause  of  new  folkways  of 
industry;   a   force  tending  toward  great   efforts  to 
increase  pre-existing  efficiency,  toward  great  econo- 
mies,  toward   great   consolidations    and   concentra- 
tions.   Of  these,  so  long  as  times  remain  "hard,"  the 
consuming  public — the   folkgroup — is   the   primary 
beneficiary,  but  as  a  result  in  succeeding  periods  of 
good    times    and    advancing   business,    profits    and 
wages  ultimately  tend  to  increase. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  such  changes  could 


204 


TRADE  MORALS 


be  accomplished  in  the  folkways  of  industry,  or  of 

labor,  without  corresponding  changes  in  the  folk- 

The  ways  of  finance.     At  the  close  of  the  War  of  the 

finance  of      Revolution,  finance  was  pretty  much  confined  to  deal- 

a  century       Jng  in  foreign  exchange.     In   1790  there  was  one 

ago  bank  each  in  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Boston, 

and  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  only  twenty-eight 

in  the  whole  country,  with  a  capital  of  twenty-one 

millions,    while    the    currency    circulation    averaged 

but  $5  per  capita.     Nearly  all  coins  were  foreign. 

There  were  four  standards  of  value  for  the  British 

penny,  the  use  of  which  persisted  in  the  folkways  of 

trade  until  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Deposit         Deposit  banking  was  not  established  as  a  folkway; 

banking         the    Bank   of   Maryland   had   been   in    existence    a 

twelvemonth  before  the  first  depositor  came  to  its 

doors.     In  fact,  its  development  did  not  come  until 

after  the  Civil  War,   and  the  deposits  of  all  the 

1562  banks  existing  in   1860  were  less  than  those 

now  held  by  the  two  principal  institutions  in  New 

York  City.     While  in   1860  there  was  a  bank  for 

each  22,991  persons,  there  is  in  1910  a  bank  for  as 

few  as  3975  persons.    At  the  beginning  of  this  epoch 

the  money  in  circulation  averaged  $13.85  per  capita; 

at  its  end  $34-33- 

Credit  The  deposit  function  was,  in  a  measure,  supplied 

changes  in     by  the  country  store,  whose  folkway  was  to  credit 
fifty  years      customers  on  its  books  with  the  produce  which  they 
brought  in,  and  to  charge  them  with  the  commodi- 
ties which  they  took  away.    As  late  as  the  middle  of 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       205 

the  century  there  were  retail  stores  in  New  England 
towns  doing  a  large  business  without  handling  as 
much  as  five  dollars  in  real  money  in  a  week's  time. 
The  United  States  government  allowed  four  years' 
credit  for  land  sales  and  twelve  to  eighteen  months' 
time  for  customs  duties.  Shrewd  merchants  took 
advantage  of  this  folkway,  and  from  the  proceeds 
of  a  first  cargo  from  the  Indies  often  financed  two 
or  three  more,  which  could  be  turned  into  cash 
before  the  duties  of  the  first  became  due.  At  one 
time  John  Jacob  Astor  was  thus  employing  no  less 
than  five  millions  of  government  money  in  his  busi- 
ness. Folk-feeling  ran  against  this  method,  it  was 
repudiated  by  folk-custom  and  in  1842  it  was  pro- 
hibited by  statute,  on  the  ground  of  privilege. 

In  merchandising,  the  rise  of  the  humanistic  prac-  Rise  of  the 
tice  of  implied  warranties,  and  its  gradual  substitu-  custom  of 
tion  for  the  legal  folk-custom  of  caveat  emptor,  have  implied 
had  much  to  do  with  a  thoroughgoing  change  in  the  warranties 
folkways  of  the  settlement  of  debt  incurred  through 
time  credits   arising  from   sales.     This  practice   is 
largely  responsible  for  the  now  rare  use  of  the  bill 
receivable   in   closing  merchandise   credits,    and   its 
virtual  replacement  by  open  book  account,  the  reason 
being  that  the  seller's  implied  warranty  of  his  goods 
prevents  the  closing  of  the  transaction  and  the  final 
fixing  of  the  amount  due.     This  interesting  change 
was  furthered  by  a  number  of  other  folkways  and 
customs  which  grew  up  during  the  convulsion  of  the 
Civil  War. 


206 


TRADE  MORALS 


But  for  a  long  time  thereafter  no  objection  was 
Early  state     made  to  the  advance  of  state  bonds  in  aid  of  pike 
socialism        and  bridge  corporations,  and  both  city  and  county 
bonds  were  issued  to  invest  in  the  stocks  of  railroads 
so  as  to  induce  transportation  development.     This 
practice  is  now  looked  upon  as  wrong,  but  it  was 
only  extinguished  by  the  losses  of  the  panic  of  1873. 
Insurance      Our  enormous  insurance  funds  are  the  development 
of  the  last  sixty  years,  their  real  importance  arising 
in  the  last  half  of  this  period.    The  insurance  inves- 
tigation of  1906  showed  folkways  which  had  been  of 
no  importance,  or  even  of  advantage  to  these  funds 
during  their  formative  stage,  that  had  subsequently 
become  wrongs  because  of  their  scale,  and  of  their 
gross  partiality  to  favored  individuals. 

Taxation  Up  to  1860  the  taxes  collected  for  the  support  of 

the  general  government  had  never  exceeded  seventy 
millions  in  any  year;  and  they  did  not  pass  the  hun- 
dred million  mark  until  the  second  year  of  the  Civil 
War.  Up  to  that  time  the  customs  tariffs,  on  which 
the  treasury  depended  as  the  chief  source  of  its 
income,  had  fluctuated  between  revenue  and  protec- 
tion; but  the  high-water  mark  of  protective  legisla- 
tion, the  "Tariff  of  Abominations"  of  1828,  would 
be  called  a  Free  Trade  measure  today.  Internal 
revenue  taxes  are  a  growth  of  the  necessities  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion. 

Corpora-  Promoters  existed,  of  course;  wherever  there  are 

tions  great  enterprises  to  be  carried  out  the  advantages  of 

the  co-operation  of  capitals  is  apparent,  and  private 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       207 

business  corporations  began  to  be  chartered  before 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Up  to  1815  there 
were  some  120  manufacturing  corporations  in 
Massachusetts,  and  perhaps  fifty  in  New  York. 
Every  company  then  had  to  have  a  special  charter 
from  the  legislature.  But  until  recognition  by  folk- 
custom  of  the  need  of  great  transportation  lines,  cor- 
porate progress  was  slow.  In  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  general  laws  were  passed  per- 
mitting incorporation  to  any  group  of  men  who  — their 
would  comply  with  certain  fixed  conditions,  but  the  standardiza- 
main  application  of  the  corporate  principle  of  tlon 
organization  to  all  branches  of  trade,  industry  and 
finance  has  been  made  within  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  More  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand such  companies  made  returns  to  the  United 
States  Internal  Revenue  in  1910.  Syndicates  for  the 
underwriting  of  the  great  blocks  of  capital  required 
by  these  promotions  have  been  developed  only 
during  the  last  fifteen  years. 

The  increasing  complexity  of  production,  and  the  Professions 
association  of  power,  mechanical  and  chemical  prob- 
lems with  questions  of  light,  heat  and  electricity,  and 
the  need,  in  times  of  trade  depression,  of  greater 
efficiency  in  production,  have  given  scope  and  impetus 
to  all  of  the  old  professions,  and  opportunity  for 
many  which  were  not  even  heard  of  two  or  three 
decades  ago.  New  customs  had  to  be  developed  on 
which  to  base  the  rights  and  duties  involved  in  the 
contact  of  these  new  departments  of  science  with  the 


208 


TRADE  MORALS 


older  and  newer  industries  for  which  their  skill 
was  needed,  and  to  regulate  the  new  expansion  of 
the  older  vocations  of  the  architect,  chemist  and 
mechanical  engineer. 

Labor  In  number,  the  wage-earners  who  sell  their  ser- 

vices or  their  time  to  those  engaged  in  industrial 
operations  have  become  by  far  the  largest  and  most 
important  business  group.  Outside  of  agriculture 
there  were  over  12,600,000  people  thus  employed 
in  1900;  assuming  a  family  ratio  of  three  to  each 
worker,  about  half  the  total  population. 

Change  in  During  the  last  half  century  the  collective  char- 
class-  acter  of  none  of  our  groups  has  been  so  profoundly 
feeling  altered  as  has  that  of  industrial  labor  in  the  East 
and  Northwest.  No  longer  is  its  temperament  that 
of  the  Puritan  with  a  stoicism  endued  by  generations 
of  contest  with  pioneer  conditions  in  a  self-restrain- 
ing atmosphere  of  personal  liberty;  it  is  now  mainly 
that  of  men  of  more  volatile  races  habituated  to 
police  restraint  rather  than  to  self-control,  imbued 
with  folk-custom  arising  from  tribal  rather  than 
national  conditions  and  educated  under  such  condi- 
tions of  discontent  as  to  induce  them  to  wrench  them- 
selves loose  from  all  the  ties  of  friends,  homes  and 
fatherlands.  The  habits  and  customs  of  the  immi- 
grant workers  are  adjusted  to  their  former  environ- 
ment; they  find  themselves  projected  into  a  social 
fabric  of  folkways  and  folk-customs  whose  meaning 
they  do  not  understand,  and  to  acquire  which  at  their 
average  maturity  is  a  difficult  task.  They  interpret 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       209 

the  absence  of  police  restraint  as  a  license  to  allow 
themselves  modes  of  behavior  and  conduct  whose 
volitional  control  is  not  inspired  by  the  higher  levels 
of  self-consciousness;  for  to  attain  these  levels  pre- 
supposes social  conditions  by  which  they  have  never 
yet  been  influenced.  To  further  complicate  the  prob- 
lem of  assimilation  they  find  themselves  confronted, 
not  with  a  fairly  stable  social  and  economic  status, 
but  are  plunged  from  the  start  into  the  series  of 
unstable  conditions  which  are  the  outcome  of  great 
and  rapid  evolutions  in  population,  in  business 
groups,  in  invention,  in  immigration  and  in  quick 
trading. 

Certain  significant  changes  in  the  customs  sur- 
rounding this  greatest  of  all  industrial  groups  call 
for  especial  mention. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  change  from  the  self-  Transfer  of 
sufficing  to  the  business  type  of  industry,  to  which  we  opportunity 
have   already   referred,   with   its   resultant   loss   of 
independence  and  of  incentive  to  the  development 
of  self-respect. 

The    second    is    the    increasing    employment    of 
women  in  all  business  groups.     In   1868   the  first 
typewriter  was   made,    and   so    discovered   a    new 
outlet  for  the  occupation  of  the  weaker  sex,  already 
expanded  by  the  power  spindle  and  the  loom.    The 
organization,  first  of  water  power,  then  of  steam  and 
finally  of  electricity,  has  transferred  three  fourths  of  Women  in 
the   female  household  occupations  of  the  previous  industry 
two  thousand  years  to  the  factories,  located  in  large 


210 


TRADE  MORALS 


New 
groups 


Changed 
relations  of 
employers 
and 
employees 


social  groups,  towns  and  villages,  whose  civilizing 
influence  has  reacted  economically,  biologically, 
psychically  and  morally  upon  the  wants,  health, 
intellect  and  character  not  only  of  this  generation, 
but  of  many  yet  to  come.  The  whole  number  of  the 
sex  engaged  in  trade,  transportation  and  manu- 
facturing increased  385  per  cent  between  1870  and 
1900,  as  contrasted  with  an  increase  in  the  whole 
population  of  only  96  per  cent,  and  of  working  males 
of  no  more  than  203  per  cent. 

Thirdly,  the  inventions  of  the  last  quarter  century 
have  brought  into  existence  industrial  groups  for- 
merly unknown,  like  electricians,  telephone  opera- 
tors, automobile  drivers,  street  railway  employees, 
etc.,  and  have  led  to  the  rapid  decay  of  many  others. 

Last,  but  most  important  of  all  in  the  creation  of 
folk-custom,  is  the  changed  ratio  in  almost  all  the 
manufacturing  industries  of  workers  to  employers — 
a  necessary  consequence,  we  may  say,  of  concentra- 
tion, in  the  effort  to  adjust  production  to  the  decline 
of  profits  and  the  rise  of  quick  trading.  The  en- 
largement of  the  mechanical  unit  has  caused  the 
decay  of  folkways  of  constant  touch  and  sympathy 
between  masters  and  workmen,  and  has  developed 
group-feelings  excited  by  the  discords,  rather  than 
by  the  harmonies,  of  their  interests.  It  remains  to  be 
seen  whether  this  antagonism  will  eventuate  in 
destructive  warfare,  or  whether  the  handwriting  on 
the  wall  will  inspire  these  groups  to  draw  nearer  to 
each  other  in  a  joint  effort  for  their  common  weal. 


IMMIGRATION— QUICK  TRADING       211 

It  seems  likely,  with  respect  to  bigness,  that  the 
Titanic  disaster  marked  the  end  of  an  epoch.  Per- 
haps many  of  the  merely  big  enterprises  may  dis-  Distrust 
integrate  into  humanly  possible  units.  Otherwise  of  the 
humanistics  will  probably  gain  a  foothold  in  folk-  overgrown 
feeling  that  may  cause  the  folkgroup,  with  a  fine 
disregard  for  merely  economic  motives,  to  adventure 
the  experiment  of  state  control  and  management. 
We  may  only  feel  sure  that  a  folk-custom  has 
already  arisen  of  intolerance  to  great  enterprises, 
and  that  on  the  scale  to  which  many  of  them  have 
attained  during  the  last  fifteen  years  they  are  no 
longer  morally  possible.  The  mainsprings  of  this 
folk-custom  are  doubtless  partly  found  in  a  dislike 
of  the  unneighborly  relations  arising  from  the  decline 
of  personal  contact  between  the  groups  co-operating 
to  produce,  and  the  neglect  of  quality  which  in  many 
cases  has  accompanied  the  excessive  effort  to  cheapen 
and  expand  production. 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  effect  of  the  great  Summary 
immigrations  of  alien  races  disparate  in  their  habits, 
folkways  and  folk-customs;  in  their  levels  of  self- 
consciousness;  in  their  social  organization;  in  their 
economic  practice;  and  in  their  moral  principle  with 
all  that  our  national  environment,  our  political  evo- 
lution, our  civil  status  and  our  established  moralities 
have  led  us  to  consider  as  necessary  to  our  welfare. 
The  effort  to  assimilate  such  elements  produces  moral 
confusions  and  moral  conflicts  and  brings  up  the 
complex  question  of  the  relations  between  one 


212  TRADE  MORALS 

organization  of  social  groups  passing  through  higher 
social  phases  with  other  intrusive  groups  passing 
through  lower  social  phases. 

If  a  problem  of  such  magnitude  were  not  enough 
to  vex  and  disturb  our  powers  of  moral  construction, 
in  addition  we  have  a  social  structure  crystallized  by 
the  practice  of  many  centuries  to  be  newly  fitted  to  a 
rapidly  changing  cultural  environment — the  outcome 
of  the  tremendous  progress  of  the  last  century  in 
science  and  the  arts. 

Folkway,  folk-custom  and  humanistic,  which  are 
the  means  of  forming  those  moral  adjustments  with 
the  environment  which  better  fit  men  for  survival, 
are  by  no  means  so  rapid  in  growth  and  development ; 
and  this  is  the  more  true  because  of  our  conscious 
effort  to  stabilize  them  through  institutional  adjuncts. 
Law  and  religion  are  often  the  means  by  which 
obsolete  custom  is  maintained  long  after  it  has 
become  maladjusted  to  a  changed  environment. 
Thus  arises  a  third  series  of  conflicts;  clouding  the 
moral  atmosphere  and  making  the  best  intentioned 
and  best  trained  of  our  population  uncertain  as  to 
what  course  of  conduct  should  rightfully  be  pursued. 

Both  righteous  conduct  and  economic  success  are 
ideals  of  business  life.  It  is  quite  possible  to  exag- 
gerate the  part  that  merely  economic  success  plays  in 
the  adjustment  of  the  business  life  to  its  environment. 
It  is  with  this  question  that  we  shall  be  particularly 
concerned  in  the  next  chapter. 


XI 
MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS 

We  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  where  it  is  pos- 
sible to  halt,  and  turning  about,  take  stock  of  that 
to  which  we  have  been  giving  a  more  or  less  detailed 
attention.     Thus  far  we  have  been  concerned  with  Retrospect 
a  survey  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  moral  conduct, 
analyzed  with  respect  to  its  nature  and  synthesized 
with   respect  to  its   origin.      Moral   conduct   in   its 
essence  is  a  social  phenomenon,  involving  the  rela-  Morality 
tions  of  the  acts  of  one  man  with  respect  to  other  a  social 
men.1      In    the    preceding    chapters    we    therefore  matter 
began  by  considering  that  aspect  of  the  subject  pre- 
sented by  the  relations  of  society  to  man.     Inasmuch 
as  our  purpose  is  to  determine,  if  possible,  by  what 
ethical  principles  the  individual  should  be  actuated 
in  his  conduct  toward  the  society  of  which  he  is  a 
part,  it  may  lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  these 
interrelations  if  we  reverse  for  a  time  the  current  of 
our  investigation,   and  approach   the   subject   from 

1  Involving  also  certain  phases  of  its  extension  toward  such  of  the 
higher  animals  as  have  been  domesticated  by  man,  and  so  adopted  by  him 
into  the  social  structure.  When  man  first  accepted  this  responsibility  his 
conduct  toward  them  was  naturally  regulated  by  the  prevalent  folkways 
which  in  a  hunting  state  had  been  adopted  toward  the  wild  animals  that 
formed  the  major  part  of  the  food  supply.  This  aspect  was  only  altered 
when  in  a  large  way  such  animals  were  bred  to  be  man's  helpmates  in  the 
task  of  modifying  his  environment. 


214 


TRADE  MORALS 


Neural 
factors  in 
behavior 


Environ- 
mental 
factors  of 
behavior 


Nature- 
ways — 


that  aspect  in  which  it  presents  itself  to  the  individual 
himself.    We  have  found: 

A.  That  all  animal  acts  are  the  outcome  of 
nervous  or  quasi-nervous  impulses;  excited  by  exter- 
nal forces  but  conditioned  mainly  by  the  degree  of 
development  of  the  nervous  system;  possessed  of 
uniformities  which  enable  them  to  be  classified,  and: 

i.  Animal  life  begins  to  develop  in  a  primitive 
environment  of  physical  elements  and  natural  forces 
which  gradually  are  modified  by  modes  of  behavior, 
inherited,  and  not  chosen,  by  an  agent  unconscious  of 
their  purpose;  and  these  are  the  outcome  of  the  pres- 
sure of  natural  environment  upon  animal  structure, 
serving  their  mutual  adaptation  and  so  tending  to 
the  survival  of  the  races  by  which  they  are  practiced. 
Together  they  may  be  classed  as  natureways,  whose 
modes  are : 

(a)  Tropisms;    direct   responses   of   the   organ- 
ism to  its  environment,  characteristic  of  lower  in- 
vertebrate races  whose  nervous  system,   if  any,   is 
diffuse  or  unco-ordinated; 

(b)  Reflexes,   co-ordinations   of   tropisms,    char- 
acteristic of  higher  invertebrate   races  in  whom  a 
segmentally  co-ordinated  nervous  system  has  been 
developed;  and 

(c)  Instinctive   acts,    co-ordinations   of    reflexes, 
characteristic  of  the  vertebrate  races  possessing  a 
more  complex  nervous  system  centrally  co-ordinated 
by  a  brain. 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       215 

Within  races,  natureways  are  more  or  less  uni-  — their 
formly  diffused;  they  cumulate  by  inheritance  from  racial 
lower  to  higher  races;  they  constantly  grow,  exist  character- 
and  die;  they  are   stable  in   direct   ratio  to   their  lstlcs 
diffusion  and  longevity;  and,  inherited  by  mankind, 
form  the  foundation  on  which  its  conduct  is  builded. 
Of  these  modes  those  derived  from  instinct,  the  least 
stable,  is  capable  of  modification  by  experience  and 
reason. 

2.     All  human  acts  are  the  outcome  of  a  combi-  Psychic 
nation  of  nervous  and  mental  impulses,  which  add  factors  of 
to  behavior  conscious  conduct.    Conduct  differs  from  conduct 
behavior  in  that  it  is  the  result  of  voluntary  purpose 
and  not  physiologically  inherited,  is  developed  under 
social  conditions  as  the  result  of  a  concurrent  effort 
to  adjust  individual  and  groupal  life  to  the  environ- 
ment,  and   expresses   itself  in  three   fairly  distinct 
modes,  together  classed  as  nurtureways,  viz. : 

(a)  Folkways;  simple  volitional  adjustments  of  Nurture- 
persons     to     environment;     unconsidered     common  ways — 
habits  of  conduct,  characteristic  of  the  lower  human 
grades  and  social  phases. 

(b)  Folk-customs;  more  complex  adjustment  of 
groups  to  their  environment;  the  general  expression 
in  action  of  doing  to  others  what  one  expects  from 
others,  characteristic  of  the  middle  human  grades 
and  social  phases. 

(c)  Humanistics;  effecting  the  triple  adjustment 
of  environment  to  groups  and  individuals,  the  ex- 
pression in  conduct  of  pity  or  love  for  one's  neigh- 


216 


TRADE  MORALS 


— their 
groupal 
characters 


Nurture- 
ways  a 
shield 

against 
nature 


— are 

conditioned 
by  volitional 
develop- 
ment 


bor,  characteristic  of  the  higher  human  grades  and 
social  phases. 

Like  natureways  these  modes  of  conduct  grow, 
exist  and  die  among  the  human  groups,  and  their 
energy  and  stability  is  in  direct  ratio  to  their  dura- 
tion and  exercise. 

B.  Man's  life  begins  its  development,  then,  in  a 
primitive  environment  composed  of  physical  ele- 
ments, natural  forces  and  their  modification  through 
natureways  inherited  from  his  animal  ancestry.  But 
this  environment  changes,  and  the  changes  as  they 
come  are  adjusted  to  his  life  by  almost  imperceptible 
adjustments — modes  of  conduct.  Conduct  is  a  de- 
vice of  man's  intelligence  to  build  between  himself 
and  nature  a  screen  of  artificial  or  cultural  environ- 
ment, by  which  he  is  enabled  to  control  and  adjust 
the  primitive  environment  to  his  constantly  growing 
needs.  In  the  last  analysis  this  screen  is  nurtureways. 

1.  This  process   evokes  a  mental  evolution  in 
man,  in  the  course  of  which  it  is  also  possible  to  des- 
cry a  graduation.    Conscious  choice  is  the  product  of 
volition;  and  volition  is  found  to  be  a  function  of  the 
conscious  knowledge  of  the  self.     Self-consciousness 
is  proportioned  to  intelligence,  and  is  conditioned  by 
it.     The  prime  factor  in  the  development  of  intelli- 
gence is  the  opportunity  of  mixing  with  and  acting 
with  other  men   and  other  minds.     And  so,   both 
conduct    and    intelligence    are    conditioned    by   the 
society  in  which  they  are  involved. 

2.  Man   is   adjusted   to   his   final   environment, 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       217 

which  is  largely  social,  by  both  behavior  and  con-  — with 
duct.     His  actions  are  the  outcome  of  conflict  or  of  natureways 
harmony  between  impulses  derived  from  natureways  are  adjust- 
and  those  derived  from  nurtureways;  in  cases  of  ' 


environ- 


conflict  the  lower,  most  energetic  and  most  stable 
modes  would  prevail  were  it  not  for  the  development 
of  his  character.  Character  is  organized  by  self- 
consciousness.  Consciousness  of  self  in  man  is 
gradually  evolved  along  an  ascending  pathway  by 
whose  levels  we  measure  its  attainment.  Its  lower 
levels  do  not  supply  forces  with  which  to  overcome 
impulses  derived  from  the  natureways  or  from  the 
lower  nurtureways,  when  in  conflict  with  less  ener- 
getic, less  stable  and  later  evolved  modes.  But  self- 
consciousness  on  its  higher  levels  has  accumulated 
means  whereby  its  function,  volition,  may  over- 
balance the  lower  impulses  and  deliberately  choose 
the  higher  but  weaker  impulses,  thus  determining 
conduct  of  the  higher  modes.  Volition  becomes, 
therefore,  the  regulating  factor  of  conflicting  im- 
pulses to  action  from  whatever  source  derived.  The 
habits  of  conduct  thus  formed,  together  with  those  — in  which, 
proceeding  from  inherited  disposition  and  bodily  character 
temperament,  are  organized  together  by  self-con-  ls  all 
sciousness  into  a  system  of  sentiments;  and  this  is  imP°rtant 
character.  Thus  character  is  the  all-important  force 
behind  that  conduct  which  other  men  have  the  right 
to  expect  of  any  given  human  agent.  The 

C.     Of  the  three  component  elements  of  char-  nature  of 
acter,   temperament  is  the  outcome   of  an   existing  character— 


218 


TRADE  MORALS 


organic  structure  capable  of  modification  within 
narrow  limits;  disposition  is  a  still  more  stable  in- 
heritance of  nurtureway  tendencies,  and  habitual 
conduct  is  fixed  on  the  nervous  highways  by  fre- 
— its  quency  of  repetition.  Theoretically,  therefore,  char- 

relative          acter  should  be  a  comparatively  stable  product,  and 
stability          this  practically,  it  is.     Business  men  recognize  its 
permanency  to  the  degree  that  they  have  made  it 
their  chief  criterion  of  credit.    But  its  temperamental 
basis  is  subject  to  attack  through  sickness,  or  mental 
— its  disturbances  may  lower  the  level  of  self-conscious- 

degenera-      ness   by   which   its   three    elements    are    organized, 
tive  There  is  no  more  dangerous  debtor  than  one  whose 

possibilities  character  has  been  established  on  a  high  level,  but 
who  by  such  degenerative  processes  is  beginning  to 
lose  it.  For  this  reason,  creditors  properly  keep 
character  under  continual  observation,  lest  reputa- 
tion be  continued  as  an  asset,  after  the  bases  of  char- 
acter have  been  partly  destroyed. 

Social  D.     The   social    structures — groupal   phases    as- 

groups —        sumed  by  the  efforts  of  men  to  live  in  association — 
in  which  conduct  is  performed,  and  in  which  charac- 
ter is  developed,   are   environmental   conditions   of 
great  potency  and  necessity  in  the  development  of 
both  nurtureways  and  personality.     Without  a  cor- 
— their          respondingly   complex   social   structure   neither   the 
reactions       higher  levels   of  self-consciousness  nor  the   higher 
modes  of  conduct  would  be  possible. 
In  our  survey  of  society  we  have  seen : 
i.     That  mankind  has  always  ordered  itself  into 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       219 

groups  of  which  the  unit  group  is  the  family  or  social  — their 
atom.  universality 

2.  That  these  units  are  compounded  with  other 
families  into  a  series  of  folkgroup  types;  each  type  — their 
a  social  phase  of  advancing  complexity,  viz. :  structure 

(a)  The  Clan,  a  molecule  of  families  tied  by  the 
sentiment  of  kin. 

(b)  The  Tribe,  a  simple  or  inorganic  compound 
of  families  or  clans  tied  by  efficiency  in  war. 

(c)  The  Nation,  a  complex  or  organic  compound 
of   families   or  tribes   tied  by  the   need   of  peace. 

3.  That  in  the  struggle  for  existence  it  always  — their 
has  been  the  experience  of  mankind  that  a  groupal  potency 
organization  better  fits  its  members  to  survive,  and  in  survival 
that  the  ever-advancing  complexity  of  environments 

have  always  to  be  matched  by  increasing  complexity 
of  folkgroup  structure.  In  other  words,  the  higher 
groupal  phases  have  become  predominant  because  of 
their  efficiency  in  adjusting  men  to  the  surroundings 
in  which  they  have  to  live. 

E.  In  the  foregoing  synthesis  we  have  observed  Parallelism 
correspondences  between  modes  of  behavior  and 
levels  of  nervous  development,  and  between  the 
latter  and  the  stages  of  life;  and  a  certain  parallel- 
ism between  conduct  modes,  self-conscious  levels  and 
social  phases.  Without  forgetting  the  penumbrae 
or  twilight  zones  qualifying  all  border  lines  between 
classes,  we  may  now  permit  ourselves  to  draft  a 
tentative  scheme,  recapitulating  the  correspondence 
between  life,  action,  society  and  morals. 


220 


TRADE  MORALS 


Assuming  that  the  summaries  and  comparisons  of 
life,  nerve  structure,  mind,  society  and  conduct,  as 
shown  by  this  table,  form  an  approximately  true 
picture  of  their  development  and  correspondences, 
we  may  proceed  to  draw  from  it  some  tentative 
generalizations  bearing  upon  moral  choices. 

The  main  difficulties  found  in  choosing  between 
Moral  impulses  are  found,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  cases  in 

conflicts —  which  they  conflict.  In  the  vast  majority  of  instances, 
of  course,  a  preponderatingly  powerful  motive  de- 
termines choice  without  the  exercise  of  volition, 
because  there  is  no  conflict;  as  where  we  exchange 
merchandise  for  cash  in  a  department  store,  or 
where  we  obey  the  direction  of  the  traffic  squad.  In 
both  of  these  instances  our  conduct  is  perfectly  co- 
ordinated to  predominant  folk-custom.  But  in  other 
instances  this  predomination  may  be  wanting;  where- 
upon conflict  of  motives  may  arise  from  three 
sources. 

— due  to  In  the  first  place,  in  every  society  we  have  to  deal 

diversity  of  with  men  of  diverse  characters.  Some  group  mem- 
character  bers  have  one  or  other  of  the  ingredients  of  char- 
acter developed  to  a  lesser  or  greater  degree;  they 
may  have  attained  different  levels  of  self-conscious- 
ness, they  may  have  inherited  different  dispositions 
and  be  unable  to  modify  them,  or  they  may  have 
temperaments  maladjusted  by  bodily  infirmity  or 
self-abuse. 

— their  Granted   a   person   whose   choice    of   conduct   is 

problems       impelled  by  a  high  grade  of  character  is  brought  into 


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MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       223 

business  association  with  another  of  a  low  grade, 
what  course  is  he  to  pursue?  The  latter  does  not 
recognize  at  all  duties  which  the  former  is  bound  to 
consider  if  not  to  perform.  Obviously  there  is  here 
a  great  difficulty  in  the  choice  of  conduct,  which  does 
not  exist  when  transactions  are  entered  into  between 
persons  of  fairly  equal  characters,  high  or  low. 

Next,  and  closely  connected  with  the  perplexities  — due  to 
involved  in   disparities   of  character   are   those   in-  social 
volved    in    dealings    entered    into    between    groups  disparities 
belonging  to  different  social  phases.    The  same  con- 
duct has  different  results  in  different  groups.     That 
which  in  one  place  perfectly  adjusts  the  agent  to  his 
environment   fails  to  do  so  in  another.     He  who 
would  act  in  a  Kalinga  or  Igorot  village  in  the  same 
way  that  he  would  at  a  summer  hotel  in  New  Hamp- 
shire would  run  grave  risk  of  having  his  head  added 
to  somebody's  collection.     The  same  financial  atti- 
tude toward  a   group   of  gold   brick  operators   as 
toward  the  members  of  the  Clearing  House  would 
surely  result  in  a  loss  of  one's  money.     It  is  quite 
impossible  to  make  the  same  wage-contract  with  the  — their 
I.  W.  W.   as  with  the  Iron  Moulders'   Union  or  problems 
the   Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Engineers.     Liberal 
terms  of  credit  to  dual-conscience  groups,  such  as  we 
find  among  certain  of  our  immigrant  refugees,  would 
involve  greater  risks  than  the  same  terms  extended 
to  the  established  wholesale  jobbing  trade. 

The  needs  of  our  modern  system  of  quick  trading 
have  developed  common  super-honest  modes  of  con- 


224 


TRADE  MORALS 


Business 
honor, 
its  basis 


Intra- 
groupal 
conflicts  of 
custom 


duct,  based  upon  business  honor,  that  is,  upon 
humanistic  ideals  of  regard  for  the  other  party  in 
what  recently  was  a  selfish  contract  and  a  little 
further  back  was  based  upon  deceit  and  plunder. 
These  ideals  are  propagated  by  trading  groups  and 
business  organizations,  and  become  finally  a  part  of 
the  law  merchant,  or  of  the  statutes  of  the  state.  The 
trade  morals  involved  in  the  extension  of  open 
credits,  in  uniformity  of  prices  to  competing  pur- 
chasers, in  implied  warranties  of  the  quality  of 
goods,  in  stable  rates  of  discount  and  interest,  and  in 
the  taboos  on  preferential  payments,  secret  liens, 
freight  underbilling,  or  customs  undervaluation  are 
instances  in  point.  A  number  of  low-grade  business 
groups  are  still  but  faintly  influenced  by  this  whole 
class  of  honorable  or  humanistic  business  considera- 
tions, and  their  habitual  conduct  accords  only  with 
the  folk-customs  of  a  by-gone  age,  or  of  the  more 
primitive  social  phases.  Here  is  evidently  another 
perplexity :  how  to  act  toward  the  member  of  a  group 
or  class  which  is  not  passing  through  the  same  social 
phase  as  the  agent. 

Thirdly,  there  comes  the  question,  intimately  asso- 
ciated with  these  preceding,  of  choice  between  the 
various  modes  of  conduct  approved  by  our  own 
group  in  the  case  when  these  apparently  are  dis- 
cordant. What  course  are  we  to  follow  when  the 
humanistic  impulse  tells  us  to  do  one  thing,  folk- 
custom  another,  and  the  law,  maybe,  a  third?  What 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       225 

generalizations  may  be  drawn  that  will  help  judg- 
ment in  these  contingencies? 

For  example,  consider  the  assessment  of  personal  — their 
taxes.    Our  method  has  descended  to  us  from  a  time  problems 
when  the  larger  part  of  the  existing  personalty  was 
as  visible  as  the  titles  to  real  property;  being  com- 
posed of  the  tools,  cattle  and  household  goods  inci- 
dent  to   self-sufficing  industry.      Out  of  the   chaos 
of  the  English  revolution  grew  the  folk-custom  of  a 
fixed  revenue  for  the  state,  and  with  it  a  humanistic 
that  taxes  should  be  so  levied  as  to  bear  with  equal  The  tax 
weight  on  all  persons  similarly  situated.    These  two  assessment 
nurtureways  grew  into  our  existing  legal  institutions  of  intan- 
for  the  assessment  of  both  real  and  personal  estates,  gibles 
But    by    degrees    conditions    changed.       Personal 
credits,  the  outcome  of  the  substitution  of  commodity 
exchange  for  self-subsistence,  became  an  important 
form  of  investment,  fluctuating,  intangible  and  unre- 
corded.     Industry,    rapidly    expanding,    created    a 
further  great  investment  field  in  negotiable  instru- 
ments, such  as  notes,  bonds,  shares,  etc.,  the  owner- 
ship of  which  was  as  easily  concealed  as  that  of 
personal  credits  and  even  more  readily  transferred. 

As  such  forms  of  debt  became  more  important,  the  — its 
law  assumed  that  ability  to  pay  arising  from  the  growing 
ownership  of  these  new  forms  of  investment  could  divergence 
still  be  measured  by  the  same  folk-custom  which  from  *rom 
colonial  times  had  been  applied  to  real  estate,  that  folk-custom 
of  their  estimated  value  in  sale.     In  the  first  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century  public  expenditure  was  so  light 


226  TRADE  MORALS 

that  tax  rates  were  low  and  the  inducement  to  the 
evasion  of  these  laws  trivial.  The  assessment  of 
corporate  property  was  hardly  attempted,  reliance 
being  made  on  assessment  of  the  instruments  of 
ownership,  when  in  private  hands.  And  so  the  ques- 
tion of  double  taxation,  once  upon  the  property  and 
again  upon  the  evidences  of  its  ownership  was  not 
important.  But  with  the  great  collective  wastes  that 
began  with  the  Civil  War,  tax  rates  increased;  and 
Its  effect  the  line  of  least  resistance  brought  corporate  prop- 
on  social  erty  up  to  assessment  for  full  value.  Conscien- 
welfare  tious  owners  of  intangibles  were  now  asked  to  pay  a 
third  to  a  half  of  the  income  which  they  received  in 
taxes,  and  they  saw  that  to  tax  the  property  and  then 
to  tax  the  instrument  of  its  ownership  was  double 
taxation.  And  so,  where  the  law  was  enforced 
business  was  driven  into  exile.  In  the  twenty  years 
following  1870  factories  employing  100,000  work- 
men moved  from  New  York  City  to  the  Jersey  shore. 
By  the  contrary  policy  of  exempting  personalty, 
Pennsylvania  attracted  an  enormous  influx  of  manu- 
factures. For  political  reasons,  the  people  of  New 
York  were  powerless  to  correct  this  law-made  in- 
justice, but  the  group  met  its  attack  upon  public  wel- 
fare by  creating  a  folk-custom  which  sanctions  the 
evasion  of  taxes  on  intangibles.  Only  in  the  case  of 
publicly  administered  estates  is  there  a  constant  con- 
flict between  the  law  and  the  folk-custom;  wherein 
again  the  humanistic  of  equal  treatment  is  traversed. 
In  at  least  one  instance  a  municipality  has  publicly 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       227 

refunded  taxes  legally  collected  from  an  over-con- 
scientious citizen,  others  persistently  refuse  to  assess 
personalty,  and  some  have  revolted  against  their 
own  officials  when  they  have  tried  to  enforce  the 
law. 

And  so  we  have  three  sets  of  impulses  at  work — 
one  derived  from  the  humanistic  of  equal  treatment,  — its 
one  from  the  attempt  to  enforce  laws  whose  execu-  perplexities 
tion,  by  violating  that  humanistic,  effect  injustice,  and 
as  a  compromise  between  these  the  folk-custom  of 
evasion  devised  to  further  the  survival  of  the  folk- 
group,  menaced  by  the  withdrawal  of  capital,  one  of 
the  vital  factors  of  its  welfare.     Truly  a  tangle  of 
opposing  impulses  derived  from  nurtureways. 

Equally    significant    are    clashes    between    folk- 
custom  and  class-custom.     Many  labor  unions  think  Conflicts 
it  right  to  use  force  in  the  settlement  of  a  trade  dis-  between 
pute;  the  public  demands  peace.    Railroad  managers  folk- and 
may  starve  their  maintenance  so  as  to  support  their  c^ass~ 
dividends;  the  people  demand  that  they  make  their  customs 
roads  safe  for  travel.     Beef  packers  long  butchered 
their  cattle  in  unsanitary  surroundings;  the  nation 
speedily  laid  heavy  penalties  on  such  conduct.     And 
so  arises  the  question,  which  to  follow — class  morals 
or  the  morals  of  the  folkgroup. 

Lastly,  there  is  the  conflict  between  the  moral  and  Economic 
the  economic  impulses.     Fortunate  indeed  it  is  that  and  moral 
business  in  actual  practice  is  not  conducted  with  a   conflicts 
sole  eye  to  gain,  but  in  general  with  due  regard  to 
social,  that  is  to  say  moral,  consequences.    But  to  be 


228 


TRADE  MORALS 


successful,  the  merchant  or  manufacturer  must  be 
efficient,  and  in  these  days  of  large  enterprises  and 
of  quick  trading  we  have  seen  that  a  large  production 
at  minimum  cost  is  essential  to  efficiency;  to  which 
standardization  of  the  product  as  surely  succeeds  as 
the  wheel  follows  the  foot  of  him  who  draws  the 
wagon. 

For,  the  economization  of  time  and  effort  de- 
manded by  the  modern  methods  of  business  leaves 
little  room  for  higgling  or  trading.  Qualities  are 
standardized,  quantities  are  standardized,  prices  and 
terms  of  credit  are  standardized,  so  as  to  permit  the 
largest  number  of  possible  transactions  to  be  con- 
summated in  the  shortest  measure  of  time.  It  is 
clearly  perceived  that  this  is  the  nub  of  business  effi- 
ciency, and  upon  the  totality  of  efficiency  in  any  busi- 
ness depends  its  welfare ;  that  is,  its  adjustment  to  its 
environment,  and  its  ability  to  survive.  Alexander 
— of  prices  T.  Stewart  discovered  the  efficiency  of  standardized 
prices  in  the  early  forties.  Previous  to  that  time  it 
was  a  folkway  in  the  United  States,  as  it  is  today 
in  Italy  or  Spain,  to  ask  one  price  of  the  buyer  with 
the  idea  of  taking  another  in  the  end;  and  of  settling 
the  final  question  of  what  was  to  be  paid  by  the 
process  of  bargaining — the  chaffering  of  the  market. 
Stewart  saw  the  opportunity  of  creating  a  wide- 
spread confidence  in  his  business  methods  by  intro- 
ducing a  custom  that  all  who  bought  from  him  should 
be  treated  exactly  alike.  His  experiment  was  re- 
ceived with  derision  by  his  competitors.  Half  the 


Moral 
effects  of 
quick 
trading 


Standardi- 
zation— 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       229 

pleasure  of  buying  would  be  lost  to  the  public,  they 
said,  if  the  opportunity  for  the  interchange  of  wits 
involved  in  higgling  and  trading  were  denied.   It  was 
confidently  asserted  that  customers  would  be  driven 
away  from  a  shop  where  the  delights  of  bargaining  — its 
were  done  away  with.    But   Stewart's  hopes  were  influence 
more  than  realized,  and  on  the  foundation  of  the  on  success 
principle  of  fixed  prices  he  built  the  most  enormous 
business  success  of  his  generation;  many  of  his  com- 
petitors, driven  out  of  business  by  their  incapacity  to 
forecast  the  trend  of  folk-custom,  were  glad  to  hire 
their  services  to  aid  the  great  merchant  in  the  very 
policy  that  had  led  to  their  own  downfall. 

The   vast   majority   of    attributes    of    all    staple 
merchandise  are  now  so  standardized  that  the  main 
question  in  selling  is  not  so  much  persuasion  as  in 
getting  the  standards  fairly  represented  before  the 
prospective  buyer's  mind.     If  the  offering  fits  his  Ethical 
economic  needs  his  last  doubt  is  the  ethical  one — i.e.,  standardiza- 
is  the  representation  a  fair  one? — and  he  acts  in  tlon 
accordance  with  his  answer  to  this  question;  if  the 
answer  be  "yes"  the  trade  succeeds.    Therefore  the 
standardization  of  conduct  is  equally  important  with 
the  other  kinds  of  standardization  to  the  success  of 
any  business  which  is  conducted  in  conformity  with 
the  modern  idea  of  large  sales  and  small  profits; 
and  thus  it  is  that  in  business  conduct,  well-established 
and  widely  known  principles  promote  success. 

We  may  at  this  juncture  profitably  engage  in  a 
brief  digression  to  discuss  success  in  general.    What  Success — 


230 


TRADE  MORALS 


— as 

related  to 
individual 
welfare 


— as  related 
to  familial 
welfare 


does  it  imply?  At  least  individual  welfare.  Some 
would  have  us  believe  that  the  only  measure  of 
welfare  is  wealth  amassed.  Many  merely  rich  men, 
however,  must  always  lie  under  the  stigma  of  failure, 
because  they  cannot  command  the  respect  of  their 
groups.  Others  even  have  failed  to  command  their 
own  self-respect,  and  have  died  under  the  strain  of 
that  disgrace.  What  does  it  profit  a  man  to  have 
won  wealth  if  he  may  not  live  to  enjoy  riches?  In 
direct  ratio  to  the  station  which  they  have  achieved, 
the  terrible  force  of  adverse  mental  suggestion  pur- 
sues men  who  fail  to  win  the  approbation  of  their 
group;  and  if  it  does  not  kill,  deprives  life  of  the 
pleasures  which  well-earned  wealth  can  command. 

We  have  observed,  during  our  discussion  of 
humanistics,  that  not  only  the  fitness  of  the  indi- 
vidual, but  of  his  progeny,  to  survive  derives  from 
and  stimulates  the  compassion-motives  to  conduct. 
And  so,  in  the  prospect  of  mere  individual  success, 
there  is  less  incentive  to  exertion  than  in  the  stimulus 
that  comes  from  the  hope  of  building  a  successful 
social  unit,  by  better  fitting  its  offspring  to  cope  with 
the  world.  Thus  the  second,  the  enduring  element 
by  which  success  is  judged,  is  familial  fitness  for  sur- 
vival, and  here  character  is  the  all-important  factor. 

Looking  even  beyond  individual  and  family  wel- 
fare in  the  quest  of  that  more  perfect  adjust- 
ment of  life  to  environment,  of  which  success  is  the 
token,  we  find  it  universally  conceded  to  those  who 
have  developed  the  talents  which  are  latent  in  their 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       231 

dispositions.    The  meed  of  success  is  granted  to  the 
statesman  whose  influence  over  others  has  gained 
assent  to  policies  devised  for  folkgroup  welfare,  to  — as  related 
the  artist  who  has  portrayed  nature  or  life  so  as  to  to  social 
appeal  to  men's  emotions  for  all  time,  to  the  writer  welfare 
who  has  flashed  thoughts,  new  or  old,  so  vividly 
before   the   imagination   that   they  have   found   an 
enduring  place  in  the  memory  of  the  race,  or  to  the 
publicist  who  has  aided  the  group  in  its  efforts  to  fit 
itself  for  survival.    The  third,  the  immortal  element 
of   success   lies,   therefore,   in   the   development   of 
man's  power  to  aid  in  the  building  of  the  screen  of 
artificial   environment   which   civilization   raises  be- 
tween mankind  and  the  forces  of  nature. 

Success,  therefore,  is  the  name  by  which  society 
recognizes  power  to  modify  the  natural  environment 
of  the  individual,  the  family  and  the  group.     That  — as  power 
power  is  acquired  through  developed  talents,  char-  of  accom- 
acter  and  wealth,  mingled  in  proportions  varied  to  plishment 
the  task  undertaken.     Money,  the  cold  storage  form 
of  wealth,  is  only  feebly  efficient  as  a  substitute  for 
the  other  elements  and  reliance  upon  it  alone  leads 
to  eventual  failure  in  the  attainment  of  results. 

No  one  knows  this  better  than  the  business  man, 
for  in  business  credit  is  the  outward  and  visible  sign  Credit  the 
of  success;  nobody  of  intelligence  lends  to  the  unsuc-  touchstone 
cessful.    Capitalists  require  evidence  of  a  full  adjust-  of  business 
ment  of  the  borrower  to  his  environment,  and  look  success 
for  it  in  three  factors;  character,  ability — that  is  to 
say  efficiency — and  capital.     Money,  therefore,  has 


232  TRADE  MORALS 

Fallacy          indeed  something  to  do  with  business  success,  but 
of  the  only  one  third  as  much  as  most  people  imagine.     In 

wealth-basis  time  of  trouble,  wealthy  men  have  been  refused  loans 
of  credit        on  prime  security  because  they  could  find  none  to 
trust  their  character  and  ability,  while  those  who 
were  strong  in  the  latter  qualities  had  no  great  diffi- 
culty in  supplying  their  needs. 

Success,  then,  is  a  proof  of  fitness  to  survive,  evi- 
Social  denced  by  self-development,  by  familial  welfare,  and 

conditions     by  individual  prosperity;  a  series  completely  adjust- 
of  success      ing  the  man  to  his  environment,  the  major  part  of 
which  is  society  itself.     If  a  man's  conduct  is  mal- 
adjusted to  that  of  the  major  part  of  his  environ- 
ment, how  can  he  maintain  his  fitness  to  survive? 

As  we  have  already  seen,  moral  conduct  is  one  of 
the  devices  by  which  the  folkgroup  adjusts  itself  to 
Economic  its  environment.  Economic  conduct,  primarily  the 
and  moral  adjustment  of  the  individual  to  his  environment,  in 
adjustments  a  lesser  degree  aids  the  adjustment  of  the  folkgroup 
and  its  subgroupal  constituents.  When  they  con- 
flict, the  moral,  that  is  to  say  the  purely  social, 
impulses  are  certain  to  prevail  in  the  long  run. 
Failure  on  the  part  of  individuals  or  of  a  subgroup 
to  recognize  this  fact  and  to  make  their  conduct 
agree  with  the  adjustments  adopted  by  the  folk- 
group  provokes  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the 
folkgroup;  sometimes  this  may  proceed  danger- 
ously near  to  the  point  of  starving  an  essential  social 
organ,  as  in  the  case  of  the  railways  during  the  last 
ten  years.  Their  troubles  are  due  to  an  indifference 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       233 

to  folk-feeling.  In  the  long  run,  a  business  group 
will  not  succeed  if  it  neglects  or  disregards  the  moral 
expedients  which  the  folkgroup  has  found  essential 
to  its  vitality,  justified  by  long  continued  racial 
experience.  And  so  the  principle  to  guide  a  business 
group  to  the  highest  success  through  the  conflicts 
between  economic  and  moral  impulses  is  the  first 
rule  of  trade-morals: 

I.  Economic  impulses  must  be  adjusted  to  moral 
impulses,  by  the  subordination  of  immediate  profits 
to  prevailing  folk-customs  and  humanistics. 

Reverting  now  to  the  question  of  conflicts  be-  Survival  of 
tween  the  modes  of  behavior  or  conduct,  or  between  the  higher 
them  and  the  moral  adjuncts,  religion  or  law,  it  will  moral  tyPes 
be  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  the  primary  object 
of  each  phase  of  social  organization  is  to  promote 
the  survival  of  the  group  in  which  it  prevails.  At 
any  given  time  and  place,  therefore,  the  highest  social 
phase  then  and  there  established  is  that  particular 
form  of  group  organization  which  best  fits  the  group 
to  maintain  itself  in  its  environment  and  to  compete 
with  other  social  groups  therein.  To  aid  its  sur- 
vival the  group  selects  nurtureways;  and  experience 
shows  that  of  these  it  always  finds  most  potent  to 
that  end  the  higher  and  not  the  lower  modes.  In 
our  discussion  of  the  humanistics  we  have  observed 
the  potency  of  moral  conduct  derived  from  the  cus- 
toms engendered  by  pity — the  highest  of  the  nurture- 
ways — to  promote  the  survival  of  the  individual 
in  civilization: 


234 


TRADE  MORALS 


Ascending 
scale  of 
moral 
duties 


1.  Because   they   increase   the   efficiency  of   his 
group ; 

2.  Because  he  is  more  likely  to  be  approved  by 
the  group  leaders — who  are  themselves  always  of 
the  higher  type — the  nervous  stimulus  of  this  appro- 
val being  of  itself  a  large  factor  in  individual  sur- 
vival, and 

3.  Because,  other  things  being  equal,  his  children 
and  descendants  will  be  more  nearly  adapted  to  the 
moral  environment  of  future  generations;  for  this 
is  selected  from  the  highest  morality  of  the  present. 

The  correspondences  and  parallelisms  which  we 
have  observed  between  the  phases  of  social  structure, 
the  levels  of  self-consciousness  and  the  modes  of 
conduct  confirm  the  observation  that  the  higher 
modes  of  the  natureways  are  those  which  are  always 
associated  with  the  survival  of  the  more  complex 
social  structures.  We  may  further  infer  that  they 
are  a  large  factor  in  the  success  of  the  individual, 
considered  as  adjustment  of  his  life  to  his  environ- 
ment, both  natural  and  social;  and  especially  do  they 
tend  toward  fitting  the  family  to  survive.  From 
reasons  of  both  social  and  individual  welfare,  there- 
fore, is  drawn  the  second  of  the  rules  of  trade- 
morals: 

II.  The  perplexities  arising  from  the  contending 
impulses  of  discordant  nurture-ways  can  be  adjusted 
in  the  interest  of  enduring  welfare  only  by  the  choice 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       235 

of  the   higher  modes   of  conduct  rather  than   the 
lower. 

This  rule  expresses  the  duty  of  one  party  to  per- 
form, and  the  right  of  the  other  to  expect,  conduct 
which  accords  with  humanistics  rather  than  with  folk- 
customs;  with  folk-customs  rather  than  with  folk- 
ways; with  folkways  rather  than  with  instincts,  and 
so  on. 

And  when  the  morals  of  a  class  are  contending  Ascending 
with  those  of  a  people  are  we  not  right  in  concluding  scale  °f 
that  national  welfare  is  of  more  importance  than  class  dutles 
those  of  any  group  of  men  within  its  domain?    Thus 
we  arrive  at  the  third  general  rule  of  trade-morals: 

III.  In  conflicts  between  customs,  those  of  the 
folkgroup  must  always  be  preferred  to  those  of  any 
of  its  subgroups;  the  welfare  of  society  rather  than 
that  of  a  class.  Class-customs  must  be  reconciled  to 
each  other  by  mutual  concessions  not  in  conflict  with 
folk-custom. 

But  sometimes  there  is  a  conflict  between  a 
humanistic,  or  a  folk-custom,  and  a  law,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  laws  are  the  creatures  of  folk-custom.  In 
considering  this  we  must  not  forget  that  there  are 
two  varieties  of  law:  the  private  law  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  declaratory  of  folk-custom,  and  pre- 
scribes the  relations  of  citizens  to  each  other;  and 
the  public  law  which  prescribes  the  relation  of  the 
citizen  to  the  state.  It  may  be  said  that  private  law 
is  declared  for  the  convenience  of  the  folkgroup; 


236 


TRADE  MORALS 


but  that  public  law  is  expressive  of  its  will.     Private 
law  may  disaccord  with  folk-custom  in  various  ways. 
Ascen-  The   folk-custom   expressed  in   a   law  may  have 

dency  of        died;  i.e.,  become  maladjusted  to  folkgroup  welfare; 
morals  over  or  jt  mav  nave  been  supplanted  by  another   folk- 
custom  or  by  a  humanistic.     This  is  the  case  when 

IEW 

we  say  the  law  is  obsolete.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, the  dead  law  must  yield  to  the  live  folk- 
custom,  though  less  readily  on  account  of  the  penal- 
ties which  it  commonly  prescribes.  It  is  the  function 
of  juries  to  relieve  defendants  of  these  penalties  and 
they  may  be  relied  upon  to  do  so.  A  man,  therefore, 
is  justified  in  transgressing  a  law  that  is  plainly  repro- 
bated by  public  opinion. 

Eccentric  Through  haste  and  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  sub- 

laws  ject-matter,  half-baked  legislation,  thoroughly  inex- 

pressive of  intergroupal  or  of  individual  obligation, 
may  be  placed  upon  the  statute  books.  Private 
law  is  tangled  up  with  the  interests  of  classes,  by 
whom  it  is  often  promoted.  In  spite  of  the  aston- 
ishing number  of  such  projects  as  are  annually  pro- 
posed to  our  legislatures  few,  fortunately,  are  actu- 
ally enacted.  But  still  there  are  some.  In  the  state 
of  New  Jersey,  for  instance,  out  of  an  annual  pro- 
duct of  some  six  hundred  new  laws,  a  few  are  so 
absurd  or  so  impractical  that  they  are  repealed  or 
amended  even  before  the  end  of  the  session  in  which 
they  are  passed.  The  business  man  must  not  dis- 
regard such  laws ;  but  his  duty  to  society  is  to  disobey 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       237 

them,  to  follow  folk-custom,  and  to  take  the  first 
opportunity  of  testing  them  before  a  jury. 

With  public  laws,  however,  the  case  is  different.  Ascen- 
They  are  expressive  of  duties  toward  the  folkgroup,  dency  of 
and  provide  penalties  against  crimes,  misdemeanors  public  law 
and  contraventions.     They  do  not  involve  private  over 
interests,  and  are  rarely  inspired  by  them.     It  may 
therefore  be  assumed  that  they  are  the  reasonable 
and  proper  expression  of  folk-feeling  and  of  the 
folkwill.     It  is  better  to  suffer  some  economic  dis- 
advantage than  allow  any  portion  of  this  class  of 
laws  to  fall  into  disrepute.  At  all  events,  their  theory, 
which  is  that  they  bear  equally  on  all  citizens  at  all 
times,  may  be  supported.   In  order  to  do  this,  practi- 
cally everyone  must  aid  in  their  enforcement  and  see 
that  his  neighbor's  conduct  conforms  to  them,  as  well 
as  his  own.     Hence  we  come  to  the  fourth  rule  of 
trade-morals : 

IV.  In  cases  of  conflict  between  laws  and  the 
nurtureways,  private  laws  may  be  subordinate  to 
folk-customs  and  humanistics;  not,  however,  without 
the  duty  of  a  public  contest  of  the  obsolete  or  mal- 
adjusted statute.  Public  law  may  not  be  subordi- 
nated to  folk-custom  and  must  be  followed;  but 
there  remains  a  duty,  to  compel  conformity  on  the 
part  of  other  group  members.  Ascen- 

Trade  and  religion  have  little  to  do  with  each  dency  of 
other.    We  may  simply  note  in  passing  that  religious  morals  over 
precepts  which  conflict  with  folk-custom  need  not  be  d°gmas 


238 


TRADE  MORALS 


followed  unless  they  are  expressions  of  the  higher 
mode  of  humanistic  conduct.     It  is  a  duty  to  the 
public  to  make  no  profession  of  adherence  to  reli- 
gious principles  which  have  come  to  be  contrary  to 
the  welfare  of  the  folk.     It  is  an  equal  duty  to 
support  such  of  them  as  are  in  accord  with  groupal 
welfare;   for  upon  occasion  they  may  serve   as   a 
powerful  auxiliary  to  the  practice  of  moral  rules. 
Disparities         Finally,  we  must  approach  conflicts  brought  about 
of  character  by  unequal  development  of  character  between  indi- 
and  group      viduals    and   by   unequal    social    evolution   between 
alliances        groups.     There  is  so  intimate  a  connection  of  inter- 
reactions  between  the  levels  of  self-consciousness,  by 
which  character  is  determined,  and  those  of  groupal 
evolution  that  they  may  be  considered  together. 

The  observation  of  two  groups  or  of  two  indi- 
viduals widely  separated  in  culture,  whether  they  be 
nations  and  classes  or  a  civilized  man  and  a  savage, 
leads  us  to  the  immediate  conclusion  that  a  mode  of 
conduct  which  is  rightly  expected  within  the  higher 
folkgroup  or  toward  persons  of  the  higher  char- 
acters is  not  primarily  a  duty  toward  the  lower. 
In  most  instances,  in  fact,  it  would  preclude  survival. 
Nowhere  in  nature  is  the  same  behavior  or  conduct 
expected  from  a  higher  racial  group  towards  a  lower. 
Duty  It  is  never  that  which  prevails  within  the  group.  A 

toward  an      wild   beast   demands   no   consideration   by   way   of 
outgroup        gentle  manners ;  this  is  also  true  of  a  wild  man.    The 
principle   is  generally  recognized  that  there   is  no 
obligation  upon   an  individual  to   conform   to   the 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       239 

nurtureways  of  a  group  in  which  he  does  not  live. 
As  a  corollary  of  this  principle  it  is  the  duty  of  one 
who  lives  within  a  group  to  fit  his  conduct  to  that 
of  the  group.  Placed  in  a  new  environment  he  must 
fit  his  ways  to  it  or  impair  his  chance  of  survival. 
By  this  necessity,  missionaries  of  the  highest  char- 
acter have  properly  adjusted  to  their  use  the  folk- 
ways and  folk-customs  of  the  tribes  to  whom  they 
have  been  accredited;  and  even  when  their  purpose 
was  to  train  them  to  higher  modes  of  conduct  than 
customary  with  their  group. 

In  a  mixed  civilization,  like  that  of  the  United  The 
States,   there   are   both   men   and  groups   who   are  problem  of 
widely  abnormal  in   folk-feeling.     The   conflict   of  a  mixed 
their  morals  and  those  of  the  folkgroup  find  their  civilization 
most  destructive  expression  in  business  competition. 
If  unrestrained,  the  methods  of  those  groups  by  the 
operation  of  a  moral  Gresham's  law  would  speedily 
drive   out   the   more   honorable   modes   of   conduct 
demanded  by  the  necessities  of  survival  in  our  com- 
plex environment.    In  the  vast  development  of  novel 
business  situations  through  the  rapid  expansion  and 
acceleration  of  business  progress  during  the  last  half- 
century  the  malicious  and  unscrupulous  competitor 
has  at  his  hand  an  hundred  means  of  injuring  his 
rival,  where   formerly  he  had  one.     But  if  these 
methods  were  allowed  to  prevail  the  standardization 
of  business  would  be  checked;  quick  trading  stopped 
at  the  expense  of  a  largely  increased  cost,  which  the 
consumers  would  not  tolerate.    And  so  it  arises  that 


240  TRADE  MORALS 

Duty  of         the  first  duty,  both  of  morals  and  of  law,  in  the  con- 
ostracism       ditions  outlined  above  must  be  to  control  and  sup- 
toward          press  fraud  and  unfair  competition  in  favor  of  the 
more  honorable  forms  of  business  conduct  prescribed 
by  the  law  merchant.     To  accomplish  so  potent  a 
result,  all  of  the  social  and  groupal  activities  must  be 
enlisted,  and  therefore  we  come  to  the  fifth  rule  of 
trade-morals : 

V.  The  perplexities  arising  in  business  competi- 
tion, from  disparities  of  character  or  of  social  evolu- 
tion, can  only  be  overcome  by  self-respect,  groupal 
co-operation  and  publicity.  The  first  accords  with 
the  necessities  of  self-survival;  the  second  with  the 
necessities  of  class  survival,  and  the  third  with  the 
necessities  of  folkgroup  survival. 

The  business  application  of  this  principle  is  that 
if  we  trade  with  a  man  at  all  we  must  trade  with  him 
on  our  own  level.     We  do  not  need  to  do  business 
with  any  one  and  therefore  may  decline  his  account. 
The  This  should  be  done  whenever  his  character  is  known 

principle  of  to  be  on  a  low  level.  When  by  reason  of  his  affilia- 
honor  with  tions  with  a  social  group  of  low  order  his  character 
is  suspected,  policy  will  lead  us  to  deal  cautiously  but 
still  on  our  own  level.  Our  share  of  the  responsi- 
bility to  educate  and  develop  such  individuals  to  the 
highest  moral  standard  of  which  they  are  capable  is 
not  discharged  by  acting  toward  them  as  if  we  were 
on  their  own  low  plane.  Both  to  our  subgroup  and 
to  the  folkgroup  we  owe  the  duty  of  educating  them 


MORAL  CONDITIONS  OF  SUCCESS       241 

to  a  higher  one.  If  their  self-conscious  level  is  that 
in  which  they  are  only  influenced  by  fear,  class  co- 
operation can  effectively  establish  this  kind  of 
motive.  If  they  don't  behave,  the  group  will  not 
solicit  their  business.  Finally,  publicity  will  enlist 
the  services  of  the  entire  folkgroup;  which  may  be 
relied  upon  to  use  its  own  potent  methods  in  com- 
pelling adherence  to  those  modes  of  conduct  which 
experience  has  shown  to  be  necessary  for  its 
survival. 


XII 

COMPETITION— CONTRACT- 
CONCLUSIONS 


Compe-  No  more  fundamental  principle  exists  in  business 

tition  is  than  competition.  As  has  already  been  explained, 
universal  it  is  the  economic  form  of  a  force  that  is  universal; 
that  antagonism  which  for  reasons  beyond  our  ken  is 
latent  in  all  matter,  everywhere  and  at  all  times. 
It  must  certainly  be  taken  account  of  in  any  effort 
made  by  business  men  to  succeed,  that  is,  to  effect  a 
complete  adjustment  of  their  lives  to  an  environ- 
ment, a  part  of  which  antagonism  is.  Economic  com- 
petition is  a  species  of  antagonistic  conduct  resulting 
from  the  desire  of  more  than  one  person  or  group 
to  obtain  the  same  thing  at  the  same  time.  And  such 
desires  are  the  outcome  of  impulses,  derived  from 
instincts  and  feelings,  which  incessantly  urge  men 
toward  conduct  designed  to  satisfy  their  interests  so 
arising. 

The  Competition  may  be  regarded  from  the  point  of 

varieties  of    view  of  society  as  harmful  or  beneficial;  from  the 
competition  point  of  view  of  industry  as  constructive  or  destruc- 
tive; and  from  the  standpoint  of  business  as  fair  or 
unfair. 

— beneficial        I  shall  pass  lightly  over  the  first  two  aspects,  stop- 
ping only  to   define  beneficial   competition   as   that 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  243 

which  brings  to  society  a  larger  number  of  better 
products  at  a  lesser  price;  and  constructive,  as  that  — construc- 
which  makes  for  the  improvement  of  merchandise  ^ve 
and  business  methods  by  reason  of  the  impetus  which 
it  gives — especially  in  periods  of  economic  contrac- 
tion— to  improvements  in  methods  and  economies 
in  production  which  in  the  long  run  revert  to  the 
welfare  both  of  society  and  of  the  industry  itself. 

By  constructive  competition,  the  remuneration  of 
the  working  groups — labor — is  eventually  increased 
and  they  are  made  surer  of  continuous  employment — 
the  capitalist  groups  find  in  such  conditions  a  demand 
for  large  amounts  of  new  capital — and  the  groups 
which  employ  both  labor  and  capital  have  renewed 
strength  and  power  conferred  upon  them  by  the 
successful  solution  of  the  problems  involved. 

Harmful  competition  is  that  which  gives  a  poorer  — harmful 
article  to  society  at  a  higher  cost;  and  destructive 
competition  is  that  which  so  weakens  the  industry 
that  many  able  workers  are  driven  out  of  business,  — destruc- 
and  many  sources  of  employment  of  both  capital  and  tive 
labor  dissipated  or  destroyed. 

Business  competition  is  mainly  between  groups, 
each  of  which  has  common  interests,  and  common 
ways,  customs  and  compassions.  Folk-custom  recog- 
nizes distinctly  the  welfare  of  the  folkgroup  in  bene-  — fair 
ficial  and  fair  competition  and  its  disadvantage  in 
harmful  competition;  but  less  clearly  the  merits  of 
constructive  or  the  calamities  involved  in  destructive 


244 


TRADE  MORALS 


— unfair        or  unfair  competition.    To  what  can  be  ascribed  this 

discrimination    in    folk-feeling?      Doubtless    to    an 

admiration  of  the  marvelous  results  which  have  been 

achieved  through  keen  competition  in  the  last  three 

generations;  and  to  the  false  sentiment  which  in  this, 

as  in  so  many  other  cases,  has  exalted  a  means  beyond 

its  ends  and  has  in  a  way  defied  it.     If  a  traveler 

from  ancient  Greece  could  revisit  our  civilization 

he  would  not  wonder  at  our  worship  of  any  unknown 

The  fetich     God;   but   he   might   very   well   satirize   our   blind 

of  devotion  to  the  fetich  of  progress.     We  seem  to 

Progress"   have  forgotten  that  the  result  to  be  wished  for  is 

welfare,  and  that  progress  is  but  its  servant ;  not  its 

master. 

Folk-feeling,  indeed,  has  already  begun  to  criti- 
cise this  folly  of  sentiment,  and  subtly  to  correct  it, 
though   it   may   not   yet   be   popular   to    disparage 
Restraint  of  progress  in  public.     A  folk-custom  is  arising  out  of 
unfair  the  discovery  that  folkgroup  welfare  is  involved  in 

competition  an  effective  restraint  on  that  unfair  or  destructive 
competition  which  results  from  this  blind  worship 
of  progress.     The  law  merchant  of  the  eighteenth 
century  recognized  only  one   form  of  unfair  com- 
petition, the  imitation  of  a  trade-mark;  other  varie- 
ties have  since  been  added,  some  of  them  by  statute, 
but  many  more  by  the  decisions  of  the  courts. 
Its  origin  in        Practices,  therefore,  which  in  former  times  were 
Progress-       chiefly  noted  by  their  rarity  have  been  instigated  by 
worship         the  precept  that  there  is  no  economic  limit  under 
conditions  of  quick  trading  to  the  possible  growth  of 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  245 

industrial  units.     The  larger  the  better  has  been  the 
rule  for  twenty  years,  and  businesses  which  have  not 
grown  continuously  too  often  have  been  looked  upon  Limitations 
as  doubtful  enterprises.     It  is  true  that  a  few  indus-  of  size  in 
tries  manufacturing  controlled  specialties,   depend-  Pr°duc- 
ent  upon  advertising  for  their  distribution,  can  always  tlon~ 
be  operated  at  decreasing  costs  when  their  output 
keeps  pace  with  the  growth  of  population.     But  this 
is  not  the  case  in  industries  making  standardized 
products  and  articles  of  common  use,  or  in  those  that 
are  engaged  in  the  service  of  distribution.     In  such 
branches  of  business  and  doubtless  in  many  others, 
there  is  a  certain  economic  unit  of  installation  whose 
increase  brings  no  further  saving  or  efficiency.     In  — in 
the    card   wool    manufacture,    for    instance,    better  woolens 
operating  results  are  obtained  by  five  ten-set  mill 
units  than  by  one  fifty-set  unit.    The  most  successful 
fancy  woolen  mill  in  the  country  is  a  single  unit  of 
only  thirteen  sets  of  cards.   In  many  grades  of  cotton 
goods,  twenty  thousand  spindles  make  a  more  capa-  — in  cottons 
ble  productive  unit  than  any  larger  one.    It  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  costs  of  the  larger  mills  are  lower  than  of 
such  of  their  competitors   as  have   discovered  the 
actual  economic  unit,  have  held  fast  to  it,  and  have 
refused  to  be  led  astray  by  the  apotheosis  of  bigness. 

But  this  is  a  digression  along  economic  lines.   The  Selling 
practical  point  of  competition  as  related  to  moral  competition 
conduct  lies  in  the  conflict  which  often  arises  in  the 
choice  of  business  methods.    An  overgrown  competi- 
tor needs  to  increase  its  sales  to  the  point  of  a  full 


246 


TRADE  MORALS 


— leading 
to  unfair 
methods 


Graft 


Disparage- 
ment 


Boycott 


product  and  may  resort  to  dubious  methods  to  accom- 
plish this  result. 

Thus  have  arisen  the  modern  forms  of  unfair  com- 
petition, which  fall  naturally  into  two  classes:  those 
forbidden  by  law  and  those  condemned  by  folk- 
custom.  Interference  with  a  competitor's  contracts, 
"passing  off,"  or  the  substitution  of  similar  merchan- 
dise, the  misrepresentation  of  goods  or  methods,  and 
transportation  rebates  are  now  actionable  at  law  and 
can  be  prevented  or  punished  by  suit  in  the  courts. 
But  local  price  cutting,  disparagement,  customers' 
graft  and  attempted  boycotts  of  raw  materials  are 
not  as  yet  fully  recognized  by  law;  though  often 
exploited  as  contrary  to  public  welfare.  All  of  these 
except  the  first  are  amenable  to  groupal  co-operation 
and  publicity.  Take  for  instance  customers'  graft. 
A  merchant  discovers  that  his  rival  is  paying  a  per- 
sonal tip  to  the  buyer  in  consideration  of  an  order. 
Generally  this  knowledge  in  the  possession  of  the 
buyer's  employer  will  put  a  stop  to  the  practice. 
Economically  it  is  fatal  to  the  success  of  the  giver  of 
the  graft.  If  known,  it  will  destroy  his  credit.  It  is 
in  the  experience  of  most  lenders  of  credit  that  the 
first  warning  of  impending  financial  difficulties  has 
often  been  thus  disclosed.  Disparagement  almost 
surely  reacts  upon  its  perpetrator  and  destroys  con- 
fidence in  his  own  offering.  It  is  poor  policy  to 
advertise  the  goods  of  your  competitor  in  offering 
your  own.  A  boycott  of  raw  materials  rarely  suc- 
ceeds; for  it  is  as  easy  to  form  a  co-operative  group 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  247 

of  defense  against  it,  as  to  effect  the  combination 
necessary  to  control. 

Local  price  cutting  is  the  most  effective  weapon  Local  price 
of  overgrown  business.     It  is  a  powerful  tactic  of  cutting — 
trade  warfare,  an  effort  to  surround  the  adversary 
or  drive  him  into  a  corner,  either  to  compel  him  to 
surrender  or  to  destroy  him.     The  folkgroup,  how- 
ever, intuitive  with  the  truth  that  its  welfare  depends 
upon  a  balance  of  the  competitive  and  co-operative 
forces,  is  in  no  mood  to  tolerate  the  utter  destruction 
of  either  of  them.     Folk-feeling,  therefore,   disre-  — con- 
garding    the    immediate    economic    advantage    of  demned  by 
temporarily  lower  prices,  condemns  this  tactic  and  is  folk-feeling 
now  rightly  endeavoring  to  penalize  it  by  statute. 
Folk-custom  demands  that  the  smaller  competitor 
be  preserved  so  long  as  he  is  an  efficient  agent  of 
competition.     It  enters  no  protest  against  his  extinc- 
tion when  by  lack  of  ability,  capital  or  character  he 
is  no  longer  able  to  survive  under  conditions  of  fair 
prices;  i.e.,  those  folkways  of  market  value  at  which 
the  whole  folkgroup  is  willing  to  absorb  the  whole 
product  of  the  industrial  group.     But  the  folkgroup 
sees  its  interest  in  the  conservation  of  competition, 
and  turns  in  wrath  upon  a  group  which  disregards 
its  rule. 

The   most   effective   bulwark   that   the   industrial  Publicity,  a 
group  can  upbuild  when  attacked  by  the  tactic  of  local  bulwark 
price  cutting  is,  therefore,  an  appeal  to  the  public  con- 
science of  its  customers.    Publicity  of  the  local  prices 
will  often  react  upon  the  aggressor  by  interesting 


248 


TRADE  MORALS 


groups  of  buyers  in  other  localities,  eventually  com- 
pelling him  either  to  desist,  or  to  sell  his  goods  at  less 
than  cost  over  the  entire  area  of  his  operations.  For 
with  the  growth  of  great  industries  there  has  been  a 
corresponding  growth  of  great  facilities  for  publicity 
and  of  a  great  interest  on  the  part  of  the  people  in 
the  novel  moral  questions  which  have  grown  out  of 
the  rapid  changes  in  art  and  business  of  the  period 
in  which  we  live.  Conduct,  after  all,  is  the  most 
universally  interesting  part  of  human  existence, 
wherefore  its  exploitation  is  profitable  to  the  press. 
Value  of  On  the  other  hand,  far-sighted  economic  judgment 

fair  generally  recognizes  the  value  of  fair  competition 

competition  jn  determining  the  ultimate  success  of  any  distrib- 
uting organization.  Its  proximate  effect  is  a  con- 
fidence in  market  prices,  and  a  feeling  of  satisfaction 
in  the  morality  of  business  methods,  which  in  all 
experience  are  powerful  stimuli  to  exchange.  In 
fine,  fair  competition  is  a  distinct  adjunct  in  the  fixa- 
tion of  price  folkways.  So  well  known  is  this  fact  to 
trade  groups  that  a  jobbing  house  in  a  local  center  is 
always  anxious  to  divide  the  market  with  a  competi- 
tor, and  often  offers  inducements  for  the  establish- 
ment of  another  house  in  its  own  line  of  business. 
Under  such  circumstances,  granted  a  reasonable 
equality  in  capital,  ability  and  character,  each  of  the 
two  competitors  is  more  successful  than  the  one  had 
Socialism  been  before. 

anti-corn-  To  escape  from  competition  has  been  the  object 

petitive          of  many  experiments  in  modern  society,  and  groups 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  249 

have  often  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  reverting 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  non-competitive  or  primi- 
tive type — like  the  Shakers  of  New  Lebanon,  the 
Rappists  of  Economy,  the  Perfectionists  of  Oneida, 
and  the  many  Fourierite  phalanxes,  of  which  Brook 
Farm  was  the  best  known.  The  Socialist  theory  is 
based  upon  an  escape  from  competitive  conditions; 
and  it  enlarges  upon  the  hardship  which  often  results 
from  economic  competition,  while  minimizing  its 
benefit  to  the  folkgroup,  and  to  social  evolution; 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  most  intimately  paralleled 
by  that  development  of  individual  character  which 
Socialism  deems  to  disregard. 

The  socialistic  ideal  is  that  of  a  state  where  con-  — and 
flict  is  suppressed  and  harmony  prevails.     It  is  as  based  on  the 
difficult  to  see  how  a  society  could  exist  which  is  not  suppression 
founded  upon  a  mixture  of  the  competitive  and  co-  c 

operative  forces  as  it  is  to  imagine  a  physical  universe 

.  .  .  .     conflict 

without  equal  proportions  of  attraction  and  repul- 
sion. 

The  primitive  group,  it  is  true,  was  not  economi- 
cally competitive  and  it  was  contrary  to  its  folk- 
custom  to  protect  its  industry  from  the  competition  Primitive 
of  other  groups  by  lowering  prices;  but  instead  it  conflicts, 
practiced  biologic  competition  and  it  was  its  folk-  biologic 
custom,  and  therefore  quite  right,  to  arm  itself  and  not 
to  exterminate  or  enslave  the  rival  group.     Conflict  economic 
was    biologic    rather    than    economic    because    the 
environment  was  that  of  nature  rather  than  of  that 
development  of  social  structure  which  we  call  civili- 


250 


TRADE  MORALS 


Some 

surviving 

anti-social 

class 

customs 


zation.  There  is,  similarly,  an  interesting  example 
still  surviving  in  the  class-custom  of  some  of  the 
lower  trades-union  groups  which,  rather  than  yield 
to  outside  competition  in  the  matter  of  a  lower  wage- 
scale  will  resort  to  private  war  and  endeavor  to  sup- 
press competition  by  force  majeure.  These  organi- 
zations are  essentially  in  the  tribal  phase  of  social, 
and  on  the  lower  levels  of  self-consciousness  in 
mental,  evolution.  Therefore  they  adhere  to  the 
tribal  principle  of  private  vengeance  as  against  the 
national  principle  of  intertribal  peace.  A  similar 
indictment  may  well  be  brought  against  industrial 
groups  who  attempt  to  further  their  own  interests 
by  perhaps  less  brutal  but  no  less  immoral  methods 
in  endeavoring  to  destroy  the  plants  or  businesses  of 
their  competitors.  As  members  of  the  folkgroup 
they  precipitate  a  clash  of  class-custom  against  folk- 
custom.  The  outcome  of  such  conflicts  in  fitness  for 
survival  is  expressed  by  the  third  and  fifth  rules  of 
trade-morals. 

The  weaker  elements  of  society  have  generally 
denounced  their  successful  competitors  with  about 
the  same  resentment,  I  should  say,  as  the  weaker 
stag  in  a  herd  of  deer  would  feel  for  the  rival  who 
had  overthrown  him;  or  that  with  which  the  van- 
quished cock  in  the  barnyard  would  regard  the 
chanticleer  who  had  driven  him  out  of  the  society 
of  his  favorite  hens.  Folk-custom  will  have  nothing 
to  do  with  this  self-pity;  and  society  has  always 
recognized  the  cleansing  influence  of  business  com- 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  251 

petition  upon  the  business   groups.      It   is   for  the  Evolution- 
social  welfare  and  a  consequent  folk-custom  that  the  ary  value 
finally  surviving  business  groups  shall  be  those  best  °f  com~ 
fitted  to  serve  the  needs  of  the  folkgroup,  which  will  Petltlon~ 
not  condemn  as  wrong  the  process,  however  disas- 
trous to  the  individual,  by  which  this  result  is  ob-  — its 
tained;   provided   it   does   not   run   counter   to   the  cleansing 
prohibitions   against   fraud  and  unfair  competition  influence  on 
which  we  have  already  discussed.  business 

In  the  competition  of  a  weaker  person  or  a  weaker 
group  with  its  superiors,  as  in  the  relations  of  the 
very  weak  to  the  very  strong  everywhere,  there  is  a 
constant  temptation  to  the  use  of  deceit.  Especially  Deceit — 
is  the  impulse  to  this  form  of  protection  greatest, 
where  weakness  is  due  to  a  relative  deficiency  in  the 
character  elements.  It  may  be  practiced  in  business 
either  by  buying  or  selling  groups. 

As  an  act  of  the  seller,  deceit  is  an  attempt  to 
mislead,  by  falsehood  spoken  or  acted,  one  of  the 
buying  group  with  whom   an  exchange   is  contem-  — a  breach 
plated,  as  to  either  the  quality  or  value  of  the  mer-  of  good 
chandise    which    is    its    object    or    of    merchandise  fa'tn 
competing  with  it.     It  is  a  breach  of  the  good  faith 
which  is  now  a  well-established  folk-custom  regulat- 
ing competitive  merchandise  exchanges. 

Deceit  was  by  no   means   contrary  to   primitive  — sane- 
morals,  nor  is  it  today  contrary  to  the  customs  of  tioned  by 
some  of  the  smaller  trading  groups  which  remain  on  tne 
low  levels  of  self-consciousness.   In  patriarchal  times,  Primitlves 
Abraham   was  commended   of   God   after  he   had 


252 


TRADE  MORALS 


deceived  his  son  into  believing  that  not  he,  but  a  lamb, 
was  to  be  offered  a  sacrifice  on  Jehovah-jireh.  The 
— among  Lord  Himself  appeared  to  Jacob  at  Bethel,  and  said, 
the  Jews  "Behold,  I  am  with  thee  and  will  keep  thee  in  all 
places,  and  in  thee  shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  blessed,"  just  after  the  blessing  intended  for  his 
brother  Esau  had  been  stolen  by  the  grossest  of 
frauds.  Nor  did  Jehovah,  through  Michaiah  His 
prophet,  hesitate  to  deceive  Ahab,  the  king  of 
Israel  to  his  destruction  at  Ramoth-gilead.  All  of 
which  is  proof,  not  of  any  immorality  in  the  Bible 
tradition,  but  of  the  fact,  evidenced  by  many  other 
tokens,  that  deceit  was  not  considered  wrongful  by 
folk-custom  among  the  ancient  Jews. 

In  Homeric  times,   neither  Hector,   the  Trojan 
hero,  nor  Ulysses,  the  pride  of  the  Greeks,  disdained 
to  deceive  the  unhappy  Dolon  by  promises  and  oaths 
to  his  death  in  the  episode  of  the  horses  of  Achilles. 
The  goddess  Minerva  herself,  mirror  of  wisdom  and 
virtue,  betrays  the  noble  Hector  and  commends  the 
deceitful   cunning  of   Ulysses.      In   Roman   law,    a 
— among       promise  was  not  binding  upon  the  parties  to  a  con- 
the  Romans  tract  unless  solemnized  with  ceremonial  formalities. 
The  business  morals  of  the  Turks  do  not  forbid  any 
reasonable  deceit  wherewith  the  sellers'  interest  may 
— in  the        well  be  forwarded.     Defoe,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth     eighteenth  century,  found  "certain  trading  lies"  not 
century          dishonest  because  expected,  but  the  Lex  Mercatoria, 
written  at  the  end  of  the  same  century,   enjoined 
"truth  and  the  avoidance  of  fraud  or  deceit  on  all 


— among 
the  Greeks 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  253 

occasions."     In  our  own  law  the  doctrine  of  caveat  — its 
emptor — "let  the  buyer  look  out !" — has  only  been  survival  in 
gradually  superseded  by  the  opposing  and  humanistic  m°dern 
doctrines  of  implied  warranties;  and  does  still  pre- 
vail  in  many  varieties  of  contract  and  sale,  where,  as 
in  real  estate  transactions  or  in  horse  trading,  there 
is  opportunity  for  care  and  deliberation  in  the  con- 
clusion of  the  bargain  and  in  the  examination  of  the 
object  transferred. 

For  the  evolution  of  modern  business  in  the  direc-  — its 
tion  of  candor,  as  we  have  seen,  is  governed  by  rejection  by 
methods  of  quick  trading  compelled  through  the  Qulck 
reduction  of  profit  margins  by  the  unparalleled  ra  lng 
improvements  in  the  arts  of  transportation,  of  dif- 
fusion of  intelligence  and  of  the  transmission  of 
power,  brought  about  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  success  of  this  method  depends 
upon  radically  different  ethical  standards  from  those 
which  might  successfully  be  used  in  more  leisurely 
transactions.  Many  things  have  now  to  be  fixed 
which  formerly  were  indeterminate.  We  have 
noted  its  effects  upon  the  standardization  of  mer- 
chandise. Deliveries  must  correspond  with  the 
samples.  Often  it  is  no  longer  necessary,  because 
impossible,  to  examine  every  unit  for  discovery  of 
discrepance,  and  therefore  warranties  of  qualities, 
quantities  and  of  "dress"  or  packing  will  now  be 
implied  in  the  sale  itself  and  enforced  by  the  courts 
as  a  folk-custom  well  imbedded  in  the  law  merchant. 
It  was  not  so  a  century  ago,  or  even  among  some  pro- 


254 


TRADE  MORALS 


— its 

control  by 
modern 
customs  of 
good  faith 


Deceit 
militates 
against 
success 


Good  faith 
in  merchan- 
dising 


ducer  groups,  more  recently.  In  the  newer  varieties 
of  articles  of  sale  and  consumption  standardization 
is  unsettled  even  today.  But  in  all  successful  large 
business  the  value  of  fixing  the  folk-custom  of  good- 
faith  in  trade  relations  is  recognized,  for  it  is  through 
the  general  confidence  engendered  by  reliance  on  it 
that  an  increased  outlet  is  found  for  a  larger  product. 

Deceit,  therefore,  is  not  only  wrong  but  rarely 
pays  in  the  long  run.  It  works  against  business  con- 
tinuity, and  so  against  success;  as  do  all  of  the 
palpable  breaches  of  folk-custom. 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  trade  custom  of  uniform  and  fixed  prices  has 
gradually  been  extended  from  retail  to  wholesale 
transactions  until  now  it  is  a  well-established  business 
custom.  It  is  wrong  to  sell  merchandise  for  resale  to 
different  members  of  the  same  buying  group  at  such 
differences  either  of  price  or  of  terms  that  one  shall 
have  an  advantage  over  the  other  members  of  his 
group.  Another  way  of  stating  this  proposition  is 
to  say  that  on  a  given  market,  that  is  to  say  to  the 
same  group  at  the  same  time,  the  sale  price  of  a  stan- 
dard article  of  merchandise  shall  be  the  same  to  all 
members  of  that  group.  This  does  not  prevent, 
however,  a  different  price  being  named  to  another 
market,  that  is  to  say  to  the  same  group  at  another 
time  or  to  the  members  of  another  group.  And  so 
the  export  price  of  an  article  may  be  higher  or  lower 
than  home  or  domestic  price — always  providing  that 
it  does  not  lead  to  unfair  competition.  The  details 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  255 

of  these  variations  are  governed  by  a  number  of 
group-customs;  in  some  groups  the  prices  may  vary 
from  day  to  day  without  notice ;  in  others  only  after 
reasonable  notice,  as  in  the  case  of  markets  where 
information  as  to  market  conditions  is  exclusively  in 
control  of  the  selling  group. 

The  basis  of  good  faith  in  merchandising  is  com- 
passionate as  well  as  customary,  the  buyer  must  be  — is 
protected  by  the  seller  from  any  deceit;  that  is  to  humanistic 
say,  of  a  concealment  of  facts  which  would  put  him 
at  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  other  mem- 
bers of  his  group  in  the  same  market.  If  this  rule  is 
obeyed  by  sellers,  there  is  no  further  duty  on  their 
part  to  protect  buyers  against  their  own  errors  of 
judgment.  With  no  merchandise  facts  concealed 
from  him  the  buyer's  business  is  to  accept  all  market 
risks. 

In  cases  where  the  folkgroup  itself  creates  the  Fair 
selling  group  of  a  commodity,  and  by  virtue  of  that  competition 
creation    establishes    conditions    which    compel    all  an(*  2°°^ 
buying  groups  to  deal  with  its  creation,  society  itself  m 

has  an  interest  in  establishing  fair  competition  and  r 
good  faith,  and  properly  institutes  laws  preventing 
discrimination;  as  in  the  case  of  railroad  rebates. 
These  folk-customs  of  good  faith,  which  in  private 
business  are  enforced  by  the  laws  of  successful  com- 
petition, must  needs  be  established  institutionally  the 
moment  that  the  state  lends  its  aid  to  a  monopoly 
with  which  its  citizens  have  to  deal.  Therefore  it 
constitutes  other  institutional  groups,  Interstate  Com- 


256 


TRADE  MORALS 


Contract — 


— redeems 
society 
from 
barbarism 


— is  a 
foundation 
of  business 


merce,  Railroad  and  Public  Utility  commissions  to 
enforce  the  folk-custom,  now  embodied  into  law, 
upon  the  creature  corporations  with  which  it  has  en- 
trusted its  right  of  eminent  domain;  and  which  by 
virtue  thereof  have  evolved  from  the  stage  of  com- 
petition to  that  of  monopoly. 

Contract  is  the  basis  upon  which  all  modern  busi- 
ness is  founded,  especially  in  those  forms  of  ex- 
change where  the  property  and  the  consideration  are 
not  delivered  or  exchanged  at  the  same  time.  If 
contracts,  in  which  either  party  is  to  perform  his 
obligation  either  continuously  or  at  some  future  time, 
could  not  be  made  and  enforced,  the  exchanges  which 
are  the  lifeblood  of  national  civilization  could  not  be 
performed,  and  society  with  terrible  throes  and  hor- 
rible suffering  would  relapse  at  once  into  a  state  of 
comparative  savagery.  The  obligation  of  a  contract 
is  therefore  well  established  as  a  folk-custom  fun- 
damental to  the  social  phase  of  our  folkgroup,  and 
to  induce  its  violation  is  an  immoral  act  far-reaching 
in  its  social  consequences.  To  persuade  a  purchaser 
to  violate  his  contract  with  a  competitor,  or  the  em- 
ployee of  a  competitor  to  break  his  contract  of 
employment,  whether  by  coercion,  bribery  or  other 
inducement,  is  to  strike  a  blow  at  the  foundations  of 
business  itself.  It  is  true  that  certain  subgroups 
within  the  folkgroup  who  in  custom  have  not  pro- 
gressed beyond  a  low  social  phase  frequently  take 
action  that  shows  undeveloped  moral  motives,  and 
when  they  believe  that  their  economic  interests  are 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  257 

injured  by  contracts  into  which  they  have  entered 
sometimes  make  efforts  to  evade  or  disrupt  them. 
Cases  where  a  buyer  endeavors  to  escape  from  his 
obligation  to  receive  a  purchase  on  a  falling  market 
or  a  seller  to  avoid  the  obligation  to  deliver  the  mer- 
chandise on  a  rising  one,  or  where  an  employer  tries 
to  discharge  an  employee  before  his  term  of  employ- 
ment has  expired,  or  an  employee  to  escape  from  the 
conditions  of  his  employment,  are  instances  of  a 
breach  of  good  faith  between  parties  who  have 
entered  into  an  engagement  upon  the  validity  of 
whose  type  the  structure  of  social  life  is  founded. 
With  the  vast  bulk  of  possible  contractual  infractions 
statute  law  is  unable  to  cope ;  and  so  beneath  the  law 
there  is  an  ever  changing  assemblage  of  contractual 
rules  or  folk-customs,  which  in  the  main  prove  effi- 
cient for  their  regulation. 

Look  back  for  a  moment  at  the  picture  of  organ-   Contract, 
ized  society  and  see  how  completely  the  functioning  the  co- 
and  life  of  each  of  its  parts  is  dependent  upon  the  ordinating 
fulfilment  of  the  functions  of  each  of  its  other  parts.   element 

r    i 

If  in  the  human  body  the  heart,  the  lungs,  or  the  di- 

gestive  tract  fails  to  perform  its  functions,  the  body  f 

j.       ,  .....  .  .,      in  the 

dies  because  the  co-ordination  or  its  organs   fails.        j  i 

Just  so  a  society,  whose  organic  parts  are  co-  structure 
ordinated  by  the  contractual  relations  which  each 
has  assumed  toward  the  others,  must  die  or  degener- 
ate unless  that  co-ordination,  that  service  which  each 
part  performs  for  all  the  others,  endures.  And  it  is 
by  contract — that  is  to  say  by  mutual  agreement  for 


258 


TRADE  MORALS 


The 

validity  of 
contracts 
conditioned 
by  social 
welfare 


Inferences 


Evolution  a 

continuous 

process 


Without 
society  the 
individual 
must 
perish — 
without 
morals  so- 
ciety must 
disintegrate 


the  benefit  of  each  to  the  advantage  of  the  whole — 
that  the  constant  growth  of  this  mutual  service  and 
of  this  co-ordination  is  maintained.  Society,  there- 
fore, sets  a  high  value  upon  the  validity  of  contracts; 
except  when  it  can  be  proved  that  they  are  in  conflict 
with  its  welfare.  And  this  class  the  law  rejects,  not 
because  they  are  not  contracts,  but  because  they  are 
contra  bonos  mores — and  therefore  immoral  in 
themselves. 

The  inferences  which  this  sketch  has  endeavored 
to  present  are  these: 

That  biological  and  social  evolution  are  parts  of 
one  process,  interconnected  in  a  thousand  ways,  only 
a  small  part  of  which  are  here  pictured.  There  may 
be  a  closer  identity  between  contiguous  sequences 
of  this  process,  as  for  instance  between  a  man 
and  an  ape,  or  between  an  instinct  and  a  folk- 
way,  than  there  is  between  different  members  of  a 
single  class  or  genus,  for  instance  between  the  lower 
and  higher  mammals,  or  between  the  diverse 
nurtureways  of  different  peoples. 

That  individuals  are  incapable  of  survival  except 
in  groupal  association,  so  that  individual  conduct 
must  conform  and  be  subordinate  to  social  conduct, 
which  at  all  costs  ensures  the  welfare  of  the  group. 
Social  morals,  class  or  group  morals  and  trade- 
morals  are  alike  founded  upon  this  group  principle. 

That  the  irreducible  group,  or  social  cell  or  atom, 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  259 

at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  and  in  our 
civilization  is  the  monogamic  family. 

That  these  social  cells  or  atoms  form  themselves  Organic 
into  groups  or  classes,  which  are  essential  organs  of  relations  of 
social  activity,  and  without  which  life  on  our  plane  of  classes 
culture  could  not  proceed,  or  even  exist. 

That  competition  between  groups  is  one,  and  co-  Antago- 
operation  another  of  their  modes  of  manifestation,  nism  and 
both  in  like  manner  essential  to  their  evolution  and  concur- 
survival.    Adjustment  of  group  life  to  environment  rence 

is  effected  by  the  ebb  and  flow,  the  varying  inter-  equa  y 
.  ,.  ...  .  necessary  to 

change  or  competition  and  co-operation.  ,    .   ' 

r^t  ft-      •  •          t-  evolution 

That  conflict  is  the  expression  of  a  lack  of  adjust- 
ment between  the  organism  and  a  constantly  chang- 
ing environment,  and  may  be  either  biotic,  between   Conflict  the 
the  orders  of  life;  social,  between  groupal  phases  of  expression 
mankind;  economic,  between  industrial  interests,  or  of  imperfect 
moral,    between    modes    of    conduct    approved    by  adjustments 
common  consent. 

That  conflicts  are  the  outcome  of  a  series  of  con- 
ditions or  concurrent  causes  and  not  of  one  simple 
cause,  the  complexity  of  each  conflict-situation  being 
in  direct  ratio  to  the  evolutionary  plane  on  which  it 
occurs;  and  in  this  sequence,  biotic,  social,  economic, 
or  ethical. 

That  the  presentation  and  understanding  of 
morals,  the  system  of  sentiments  and  rules  of  action 
derived  from  the  study  and  classification  of  conduct 
can  only  be  accomplished  through  the  consideration 
of  all  acts  by  which  animals  and  men  endeavor  to 


260 


TRADE  MORALS 


Moral 
conflicts 
developed 
daily 


Human 
volition 


Folk- 
feeling 
a  means  of 
adjustment 


adjust  their  lives  to  their  environments,  and  so  fit 
themselves  to  survive. 

That  moral  conflicts,  i.e.,  between  modes  of  be- 
havior and  conduct — between  natureways  and  nur- 
tureways — are  continually  arising,  growing  out  of 
unequal  evolutionary  development  in  characters, 
groups,  feelings,  customs  and  societies.  If  uncon- 
trolled by  an  opposite  effort  for  harmony  they  would 
speedily  make  social  and  individual  existence  diffi- 
cult if  not  impossible.  By  the  balance  of  conduct 
effected  by  the  principles  of  conflict  and  co-opera- 
tion the  life  of  the  folk-group  is  adjusted  to  its 
environment,  and  to  its  structure. 

That  conduct  is  regulated  by  intelligent  and  con- 
scious volition,  the  functional  medium  of  choice. 

That  human  volition  is  a  part  of,  and  is  inextri- 
cably interwoven  with  biological  evolution,  and  that 
conduct  is  a  part  of,  and  inevitably  connected  with, 
social  evolution. 

That  folk-feeling  is  an  expression  of  the  cumula- 
tive experience  of  the  race,  a  combination  of  the 
memories  of  many  generations,  and  affords  a  means 
for  an  approximate  adjustment  of  all  moral  conflicts. 

That  the  perfection  or  imperfection  of  this  adjust- 
ment is  the  criterion  for  the  estimation  of  all  conduct. 

That  the  foregoing  considerations  form  the  neces- 
sary foundation  of  the  study  of  the  science  of  ethics; 
and  are  preliminary  to  the  correct  understanding  of 
the  subject  and  to  its  pursuit  as  a  branch  of  human 
knowledge. 


COMPETITION— CONTRACT  261 

That  all  the  groups  of  which  our  complex  society  Inter- 
is  composed  are  interdependent,  so  that  it  is  equally  dependence 
incumbent   upon   the   individual   and  his   group   to   of  sub~ 
refrain  from  the  pursuit  of  individual  or  class  wel-  SrouPs  and 
fare  at  the  expense  of  folkgroup  welfare,  and  for  the 
folkgroup  neither  to  overtax  nor  to  starve  any  of  its 
subsidiary  components,  all  of  which  are  necessary  to 
effect  its  continued  adjustment  to  environment,  and 
to  fit  it  for  survival. 

That  business  men  in  the  twentieth  century  are  The 
peculiarly  situated,   in   a  whirl  of  conflicts   arising  adjustment 
from  a  most  extraordinary  process  of  rapid  social  °* tne 
and  economic  development  and  evolution;  that  as  business 
groups  they  form  a  system  of  functional  organs  of  { 
society  itself,   instrumental  to  a  degree  heretofore   r  ,, 
undreamed  of  in  effecting  the  exchanges  by  which  the 
life  of  modern  civilization  is  maintained;  that  the 
necessity  of  conforming  their  conduct  to  that  of  the 
social  group  in  which  they  live  and  work  is  impera- 
tive;   that    a    conformity   to    ancient    and    outworn 
methods  sometimes  places  them  in  antagonism  to  the 
group;  and  being  a  part  thereof  it  is  a  condition  of 
their  survival  and  of  social  vigor  that  conflicts  arising 
from  such  antagonisms  be  speedily  adjusted. 

We  have  now  completed  our  impressionistic  pic-  Conclusion 
ture  of  the  evolution  of  the  social  structure,  of  its 
standards  of  conduct,  of  the  development  of  busi- 
ness, by  which  its  exchanges  are  made  and  which  like 
the  lifeblood,  courses  from  group  to  group  supply- 


262  TRADE  MORALS 

ing  subsistence,  strength,  the  means  of  growth 
and  satisfaction  to  each  of  the  interests  arising 
from  the  great  motive  forces  of  hunger,  love, 
vanity,  fear  and  pity.  The  moral  forces  arising 
from  the  first  four  of  these  motives  are  expressed  in 
folk-custom,  or  those  common  modes  of  conduct 
which  the  group  has  connected  with  its  ideals  of 
groupal  welfare;  while  the  moral  forces  arising 
from  the  last  developed  motive  force,  that  of  pity  or 
compassion,  are  expressed  in  the  ideals  of  individual 
welfare  as  adjusted  to  groupal  welfare  which  we 
have  studied  under  the  name  of  humanistics.  From 
these  two  modes  of  thought  and  action  are  drawn 
ethical  principles  from  which  may  be  deduced  rules 
of  right  action  applicable  not  only  to  the  affairs  of 
business,  but  to  all  other  phases  of  human  conduct — 
to  the  better  fitting  not  only  of  the  individual  and  of 
his  group,  but  of  human  society  itself  for  survival  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  The  struggle  for  existence 
and  the  survival  of  the  fittest — which  means  not 
proximately  but  eventually  of  the  best — are  indefi- 
nitely continuing  processes  forming  one  chain  of 
evolution  which  links  all  life  and  conduct  together; 
men  and  animals,  civilization  and  savagery,  volitions 
and  instincts,  conduct  and  behavior  in  a  universe  of 
elemental  motion  and  change.  "All  was  others,  all 
will  be  others." 


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INDEX 


INDEX 


Acquisitive  instinct  in  families, 
55. 

Agricultural  progress,  168-171; 
colleges  and  experiment  sta- 
tions, purpose  of,  170;  effects 
of  progress  in,  170. 

Animal  association,  causes  of, 
9. 

Antagonistic  forces  in  morals, 
76. 

Antin,  Mary,  study  of  dual  con- 
science by,  192. 

Arkwright,  inventor  of  spin- 
ning-jenny, 174. 

Army,  origin  of,  103. 

Assembly,  deliberative,  origin 
of,  102-103  ;  representative  of, 
103. 

Assimilation  of  immigrant, 
problem  of,  192-194. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  use  of  gov- 
ernment money  by,  205. 

Asylums,  insane,  origin  of,  93- 
94. 

Back-loading,  custom  on  rail- 
roads, 142. 

Bacon's  wise  counsel  quoted,  44. 

Banking,  illustrative  of  person- 
ality, 128-129;  changes  in 
methods  of,  204-206. 

Behavior,  a  type  of  subcon- 
scious action,  35;  motives  to, 
74. 


Blood  revenge,  primitive  remedy 
for  torts,  103 ;  drawbacks  of, 
103-104. 

Boot  and  shoe  industry,  concen- 
tration in,  201. 

Boycott  of  raw  materials,  rarely 
successful,  246. 

Broking,  illustrative  of  person- 
ality, 129-131. 

Business,  defined,  145  ;  evolution 
of,  146;  founded  on  ex- 
changes, 146 ;  customs  of,  147 ; 
groups  must  give  satisfaction, 
153 ;  must  cater  to  folkways, 
153-154;  sometimes  unfairly 
checked  by  legislation,  etc., 
155-156;  conduct,  method  of 
interpreting,  161 ;  groups, 
rapid  growth  of,  167,  188- 
189;  methods,  changes  in, 
194-196;  honor,  need  for,  223; 
basis  of,  224. 

Canals,  introduced  in  England 
by  Duke  of  Bridgewater,  163 ; 
Erie,  163-164;  to  Ohio  River, 
164;  system  with  Great  Lakes, 
165. 

Capital,  a  factor  of  success, 
231-232. 

Character,  formed  by  person- 
ality, 131;  strong,  132-133; 
weak,  132;  main  foundation 
of  credit,  135;  definition  and 


274 


INDEX 


role  of,  217;  elements  of, 
217-218;  importance  of,  in 
business,  218;  degeneration 
of,  218;  diversity  of,  makes 
problems  in  trade,  222-223; 
all-important  factor  of  suc- 
cess, 230-231;  disparities  of, 
to  be  overcome,  240. 

Children,  subjection  of,  a  kin- 
ship-custom, 147-148. 

Churches,  hesitation  of,  to  meet 
new  conditions,  190. 

Cities,  growth  of,  along  line  of 
march,  165;  increase  in  num- 
ber of,  165. 

Civil  War,  the  final  arbitra- 
ment of  a  discussion  lasting 
three  quarters  of  a  century, 
47;  its  result,  47. 

Clan  or  Kinship  Group,  com- 
posed of  number  of  families, 
12;  survival  of,  seen  in  Scot- 
tish clan  surnames  and  in 
Middle  South,  13;  follows 
method  of  anthozoans  and 
other  polyzoans,  13;  condi- 
tions of,  satisfy  various  needs, 
13  ;  formation  of,  unconscious, 
14;  two  or  more  form  tribe, 
14;  how  affected  by  indus- 
trial development,  21 ;  decay 
of,  in  modern  times,  22; 
simpler  multicellular  animal 
organism,  analogue  of,  24; 
definition  of,  219. 

Class-custom,  a  subdivision  of 
folk-custom,  62 ;  "scabbing" 
offensive  only  to,  63 ;  if 
accepted  by  large  number  of 


subgroups  may  become  folk- 
custom,  64;  conflict  of,  with 
folk-custom  and  with  sub- 
groups within  the  folkgroup, 
90;  at  variance  with  folk- 
custom,  227. 

Classes,  the  organs  of  social 
activity,  259. 

Clerks,  increase  in,  197. 

Clinton,  DeWitt,  enemy  of  the 
folk-customs  of  slave  labor, 
165. 

Clothing  industry,  concentration 
in,  200-201. 

Common  law,  flexibility  and  in- 
flexibility of,  107-108. 

Communism,  instances  of,  in 
domestic  life,  56;  in  clan  life, 
57;  decline  of,  58. 

Compassion.     See  Sympathy. 

Competition,  business  morals 
adjusted  through,  239;  unfair, 
240,  243-244,  246;  suppressed, 
240;  rule  of  adjustment  of 
business,  240;  function  of, 
242;  beneficial,  242-243;  con- 
structive, 243  ;  harmful,  243  ; 
destructive,  243;  fair,  243; 
restraint  of,  unfair,  244;  sell- 
ing, 245;  value  of  fair,  248; 
socialism  against,  248-249; 
cleansing  influence  of,  250- 
251. 

Concentration,  folkways  of, 
199;  examples  of,  199-201. 

Conclusion,  summarizing  facts, 
261-262. 

Concurrent  forces  in  morals, 
76. 


INDEX 


275 


Condi  llac,  popularizer  of 
Locke's  philosophy  in  France, 
94-95. 

Conduct,  defined  as  "voluntary 
action  adjusted  to  ends,"  its 
laws  found  by  abstraction,  4- 
5 ;  ethics,  science  of  right  and 
wrong,  6;  not  all,  moral  or 
immoral,  6;  morality  of,  de- 
pendent upon  its  effect  on 
others,  7;  variety  of  qualities 
of,  7 ;  moral,  a  social  matter, 
8 ;  in  contrast  with  nature- 
ways,  an  acquired  mode,  37 ; 
as  distinct  from  natureways, 
45 ;  in  upper  animal  life,  the 
prevalent  unconscious  rule  of, 
45;  as  influenced  by  nurture- 
ways,  87-89;  economic,  137- 
138;  in  business  influenced 
by  forces,  151;  evolution  of 
business,  151;  impulses,  bal- 
ance of,  160;  business,  me- 
thod of  determining,  161; 
factors  of,  215;  function  of, 
216;  habitual,  function  of,  in 
character,  218;  difficulty  of 
choice  between  modes  of,  224; 
standardization  of,  229; 
higher  modes  of,  should  rule, 
234-235;  should  be  adjusted 
to  the  group  in  which  a  man 
lives,  239. 

Conflict,  caused  by  imperfect 
social  adjustment,  259;  moral, 
259-260. 

Conscience,  moral  adjunct  of 
human  nature,  90;  definition 


of,  110;  inconsistencies  of, 
110-111;  limitations  of,  111. 

Contract,  basis  of  modern  busi- 
ness, 256;  evasion  of,  only 
from  low  moral  motives,  256- 
257;  validity  of,  258. 

Co-operation,  groupal,  to  adjust 
perplexities  from  disparities 
of  conduct,  240. 

Corporations,  growth  of,  206- 
207;  standardization  of,  207. 

Cotton,  manufacture,  245. 

Credit,  touchstone  of  business 
success,  231. 

Crompton,  inventor  of  spinning- 
jenny,  174. 

Culture,  unevenly  allotted  in 
every  folkgroup,  127. 

Customs,  of  business,  clan  cus- 
toms, 147-148;  kinship,  as 
subjection  of  children,  147- 
148;  group,  151;  slow  adjust- 
ment of,  to  changed  condi- 
tions, 189;  changes  in,  among 
wage-earners,  208-211;  in 
conflicts  of,  folkgroup  must 
always  prevail,  235. 

Darwin's  Origin  of  Species  de- 
fined, its  effects  upon  biologi- 
cal sciences,  upon  Chemistry, 
Physics  and  Mineralogy,  1-2. 

Deceit,  use  of,  251;  among 
Jews,  252;  in  Homeric  times, 
252;  among  Romans,  252;  in 
the  18th  century,  252;  survi- 
val of,  in  modern  times,  253- 
254. 

Declaration     of     Independence, 


276 


INDEX 


1776,  an  instance  of  revolt 
against  imposition  of  alien 
folk-custom,  48. 

"Demonology,"  by  King  James 
I,  quoted,  92. 

Deposit  banking,  evolution  of, 
204. 

Depressions  of  trade,  cause  of 
new  folkways,  203. 

Diabolical  possession,  belief  in 
regard  to  insane,  92. 

Differentiation  of  labor,  result 
of  progressive  evolution,  25. 

Discovery  or  Invention,  a  con- 
scious effort  through  art  or 
craft  to  adapt  the  environ- 
ment to  its  needs,  46. 

Disparagement,  of  rival  goods, 
poor  policy,  246. 

Disposition,  influence  of,  on 
character,  132;  a  natureway, 
132;  function  of,  in  character, 
218. 

Division  of  labor  in  shoe  fac- 
tories, 202;  changes  in  folk- 
ways from,  202-203. 

Dual  conscience  of  the  Jew, 
192. 

Dutch  Manifesto  of  1581,  an- 
other instance  of  revolt 
against  imposition1  of  alien 
folk-custom,  48. 

Economic  impulses,  conflict  of, 
with  moral,  227-228,  232-234. 

Economics,  definition  of,  136; 
concerned  with  individual 
welfare,  137;  rational,  137; 
connection  with  morals,  137- 


138;  rules  of,  changing,  138- 
139;  groups,  types  of,  148- 
151;  parallelism  of,  220-221. 

Efficiency,  one  of  three  factors 
of  success,  231. 

Eliot,  George,  quoted,  131. 

Emotion,  governed  by  self-con- 
trol in  strong  characters,  132- 
133. 

Employer  and  employees, 
changed  ratio  of,  210. 

Environment,  conditions  of,  in 
United  States  today,  161 ;  com- 
pared with  those  of  our  fore- 
fathers, 162;  role  of,  214; 
adjustment  of  man  to,  216- 
217. 

Erasmus,  the  learned,  quoted, 
41. 

Erie  Canal,  resulted  in  foreign 
influx,  190. 

Ethics,  defined,  similar  in 
method  to  sister  science,  6-7; 
function  of,  113. 

Evolution,  Doctrine  of,  in  its 
biological  application,  its 
extension  to  physical  sciences, 
in  Psychology,  2;  influence  of 
sympathy  on,  78-79 ;  nature- 
ways  and  nurtureways  help 
to  determine,  of  less  known 
factors  of  conduct,  161;  con- 
tinuity of,  258. 

Exchange,  its  origin  and 
growth,  plunder  its  primitive 
form,  58 ;  begets  rights  of 
disposal,  59;  essential  to 
business,  146 ;  barter,  form  of, 
146. 


INDEX 


277 


Factory  groups,  rapid  increase 
in,  182. 

Factory  system,  origin  of,  174- 
175 ;  social  advantages  of, 
175 ;  spiritual  advantages  of, 
176 ;  interpretation  of,  176. 

Fakir,  thrives  on  low  level  of 
self-realization,  126. 

Family,  the  sociological  atom, 
1 1 ;  two,  or  more,  the  socio- 
logical molecule,  12;  forms 
Clan  or  Kinship  Group,  12; 
social  unit,  219;  welfare  of, 
criterion  of  success,  230; 
monogamic,  the  social  atom, 
258-259. 

Farming,  change  in  character 
of,  169;  introduction  of  busi- 
ness methods  in,  169;  groups, 
slow  growth  of,  182. 

Fear,  a  nurtureway,  116-117; 
weak  in  savages,  118. 

Feeding,  a  nurtureway  defined, 
116. 

Finance,  folk-customs  from 
pioneer,  172;  changes  in  folk- 
ways of,  204-207. 

Financial  groups,  150;  per- 
centages in,  see  Table  I,  180; 
growth  of,  185. 

Fittest,  definition  of,  262. 

Folk-custom  (or  Mores),  a  con- 
scious custom  of  the  people, 
42;  use  of  suggestion  in  se- 
curing observance  of,  43 ; 
approbation  and  reprobation 
of  the  use  of,  43 ;  institutions 
devised  to  maintain,  44; 
strong  folk-feeling  in  support 


of,  44;  second  step  on  evolu- 
tionary ladder,  45 ;  demand  a 
still  higher  intelligence  than 
folkways,  45 ;  result  of  a  con- 
scious effort  to  adapt  conduct 
of  folkgroup  to  its  environ- 
ment, 46 ;  varies  with  locality, 
46;  of  southern  states  justifies 
slavery,  47;  of  which  folk- 
group  has  become  conscious, 
51;  co-ordinate  life  along 
lines  of  least  resistance,  51 ; 
persistent  force  of,  more  than 
anthropological  curiosity,  52; 
exists  in  all  stages  of  human 
life,  52 ;  examples  of  incom- 
patibility of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern, 53 ;  can  be  classified,  53 ; 
source  of  morals,  54;  facility 
of  exchange  promoted  by 
gradual  growth  of,  61 ;  syn- 
chronic  growth  of  social  struc- 
ture and  moral  obligation  of, 
62;  divorce  not  condemned 
by,  63 ;  social  morals  drawn 
from,  64;  recruited  from 
class-customs,  64;  revolution 
of  Sabbatarian  observances  a 
changing,  65-66 ;  gives  no  right 
to  outgroups,  69;  selection  of 
certain  folkways  to  serve  self- 
ish ends  of  the  particular 
group,  70-71 ;  disregardful  of 
individual,  72;  instances  of 
cruelty  of,  among  Chinese  and 
Eskimos,  73 ;  infanticide,  an 
example  of,  82-84;  influence 
of,  88 ;  conflict  of,  with  hu- 
manistics,  with  class-custom, 


278 


INDEX 


90;  declared  by  law,  105; 
compromises  between,  ad- 
justed by  law,  106;  crystal- 
lized by  law,  108;  supports 
law,  109-110;  leads  way  for 
law  and  religion,  112;  con- 
flict of,  with  a  humanistic, 
illustrated  by  broking,  130- 
131;  looks  out  for  group,  not 
individual,  141 ;  factor  in 
business  profit,  155;  human- 
istics  become  merged  in,  85- 
86;  altered  by  growth  of 
cities  as  seen  in  dairy  pro- 
duction, 169-170;  changes  in, 
from  western  settlement,  171 ; 
of  pioneer  finance,  172; 
changed  by  introduction  of 
steam  power  in  industries, 
173;  in  textile  industry,  173- 
176;  altered  by  introduction 
of  ready-made  clothing,  174- 
175;  alien,  introduced  by 
immigrants,  191 ;  affected  by 
persecution,  191 ;  alien,  im- 
pairs business  morals,  193 ; 
definition  of,  21 5 ;  sometimes 
at  variance  with  law,  exam- 
ple, tax  assessment,  225-227; 
with  class-custom,  227 ;  should 
adjust  profits,  233 ;  should 
prevail  over  class-custom, 
235;  expressed  in  law,  235- 
236;  of  good  faith  in  business, 
254-256. 

Folk-feeling,  effect  of  trade 
routes  on,  165;  a  means  of 
adjustment  of  moral  conflicts, 
260. 


Folkgroup,  definition  of,  17; 
development  of,  18-19;  nation, 
less  tied  by  defense,  19;  effect 
of  forces  of  social  evolution 
upon,  23 ;  possibly  a  levia- 
than, 27;  process  of  complex, 
evolution  of,  27;  environment 
of,  duplex,  27;  social  phases 
or  types  of,  28;  compelled  by 
heterethnic  aggression,  33 ; 
rarely  homogeneous,  mentally 
or  socially,  127;  sometimes 
antagonistic  to  its  own  mem- 
bers, 155;  examples  of, 
abroad,  155;  examples  of, 
in  United  States,  156;  growth 
of,  see  Table  I,  177-181; 
interdependence  of,  with  sub- 
groups, 261;  adjustment  with 
business  groups,  261. 

Folkways,  instanced,  38;  origin 
of  name  credited  to  Sumner, 
39;  origin  of,  39-40;  uncon- 
sidered,  habitual,  uniform 
modes  of  action  practiced  by 
men  under  group  conditions, 
40;  built  on  foundation  of 
natureways,  by  origin  nur- 
tural  rather  than  natural, 
first  of  new  series  of  conduct 
modes,  40 ;  nurtureways  in- 
telligently taught  but  irra- 
tionally practiced,  40-41 ;  kiss- 
ing, an  example  of,  41-42 ; 
first  step  up  from  natureways, 
45 ;  defined  as  the  primitive, 
unconsidered  rules  of  intelli- 
gent conduct,  45 ;  promote 
survival  of  tribe  in  war,  45 ; 


INDEX 


279 


one  of  the  most  primitive 
modes,  SO;  embody  the  results 
of  man's  intelligence  through 
centuries  of  experiments,  51; 
are  subject  to  all  stages  of 
growth  and  decay,  52;  permit 
limited  property  control,  57; 
individual  possession  of  land 
accidental  and  sporadic,  59; 
corroboration  in  language  of, 
60;  prevalence  and  incidence 
in  inverse  ratio  to  size  of 
group,  62;  influence  of,  88;  of 
traffic,  140-141 ;  business  caters 
to,  154;  differences  in,  influ- 
ence profit,  154-155;  made 
more  business-like  by  rail- 
roads, 166;  altered  by  growth 
of  cities  as  shown  by  changes 
in  milk  supply,  168;  by 
changed  farming  conditions, 
169-170;  similar  changes  of, 
in  other  groups,  171 ;  altered 
by  western  settlement,  172; 
effect  of  introduction  of  steam 
into  industries  on,  173-176; 
alien,  introduced  by  immi- 
grants, 191 ;  of  quick  trading, 
198;  of  standardization,  198; 
changes  in,  due  to  specializa- 
tion in  industry,  202-203; 
changed  by  trade  depressions, 
203 ;  changes  in,  of  finance, 
204-207 ;  changes  in,  among 
laborers,  208-211;  definition 
of,  215. 

Fourierite  phalanxes  opposed  to 
competition,  249. 

Fraud,  to  be  ostracized,  240. 


Gambling,  instance  of  twilight 
zone  of  moral  conduct,  112. 

German  liberals,  contribution 
to  progress  of  the  prairie  of, 
165. 

Golden  Rule,  expressed  from 
Confucius  to  Christ,  75 ;  rule 
of  sympathy,  77. 

Goodyear,  inventor  of  power 
sewing  machine,  202. 

Government,  derives  its  only 
justification  from  the  consent 
of  the  governed,  48 ;  owner- 
ship of  railroads,  early,  206. 

Graft,  description  of,  246. 

Granger  agitation,  143-144. 

Gresham's  moral  law,  239. 

Groups,  economic,  148-151;  cus- 
tom of,  151;  morality  of,  151- 
152;  growth  of,  see  tables, 
177-181;  summary  of  changes 
in,  1860-1910,  182;  folk-, 
trebled,  182;  urban,  increase 
of,  182;  farming,  slow  growth 
of,  182;  heterethnic  subgroups, 
182;  factory,  rapid  growth 
of,  182;  laboring,  183;  tex- 
tile, 183;  trading,  184;  trans- 
portation, 184;  financial,  185; 
professional,  185-186;  labor- 
ing, 186;  growth  of  new  busi- 
ness, 188-189. 

Guest-friendship,    defined,    77. 

Habit,  defined,   117-118. 

Hargreaves,  inventor  of  spin- 
ning-jenny, 174. 

Higher  selves  gain  ascendency 
over  weaker  motives,  120. 


280 


INDEX 


Honor,  humanistics  expressed 
in,  81 ;  conduct  expressing 
humanistics  called,  89;  busi- 
ness, need  for,  223 ;  basis  of, 
224;  principle  of,  in  business, 
240;  former  lack  of,  251-254; 
customs  of,  254-256. 

Howard  drew  attention  to  bru- 
tality in  English  insane  asy- 
lums, 94-95. 

Humanistics,  definition  of,  80- 
81 ;  must  be  adopted  by  sub- 
groups, 81 ;  expressed  in 
honor,  81;  limitations,  81; 
supplants  folk-custom  of 
infanticide,  82-84;  origin  and 
growth  of,  84;  another  pos- 
sible origin,  prevention  of 
cruelty  to  animals,  85-86; 
requires  emotional  assent  of 
folkgroup,  86-87;  the  hope  for 
moral  progress,  87;  influence 
of,  88-89;  conflicts  of,  with 
folk-custom,  90;  treatment  of 
insane,  illustration  of,  91-95 ; 
typical  cycle  of  evolution  of, 
96-97;  origin  in  individual 
consciousness,  98 ;  mode  of 
growth  institutional,  98 ;  sum- 
mary of  evolution  of,  114; 
conflict  with  folk-customs, 
illustrated  by  broking,  130- 
131;  may  work  for  state  con- 
trol of  business,  211 ;  definition 
of,  216;  should  adjust  profits, 
233 ;  important  element  in 
trading,  255. 

Hunger,  a  nurtureway,  defined, 
116. 


Immigrants,  problem  of  assim- 
ilation of,  192;  under- 
development  of  self-con- 
sciousness among,  192-193 ; 
folk-customs  of,  impair  busi- 
ness morals,  193 ;  problem  of 
assimilation  of,  in  United 
States,  194;  characteristics  of, 
208-209. 

Immigration  in  the  18th  and 
19th  centuries,  190-191. 

Impulses,  conflict  of,  121 ;  paral- 
lelism of,  220-221;  difficulty 
in  choice  between,  222. 

Individual,  his  claim  to  dis- 
tinction, 75. 

Individualism,  growth  of  liberty 
a  manifestation  of,  23 ;  an 
expression  of  the  universal 
centrifugal,  considered  as  a 
menace,  always  to  be  reck- 
oned with,  23 ;  in  competition 
with  socialization,  76. 

Industrial  groups,  producers, 
148-149 ;  percentages  in,  see 
Table  I,  178-179. 

Industry,  reaction  of  conditions 
upon,  20 ;  wealth  of,  rival  of 
war  leadership,  21 ;  leaders 
of,  acquire  political  power, 
21 ;  new  groups  in,  210. 

Infanticide,  example  of  folk- 
custom,  82;  slavery  a  partial 
remedy  for,  82-83. 

Insane,  treatment  of,  illustra- 
tion of  humanistics,  91-95. 

Instincts,  defined  as  the  third 
mode  of  uniform  behavior, 


INDEX 


281 


35;  higher  grade  of  activity 
than  reflexes,  common  to  all 
higher  animals,  a  form  of 
impulse  derived  from  pri- 
mordial tissues  of  experience, 
35;  instances  of,  in  animals, 
36;  cause  of,  in  animals, 
pressure  of  natural  environ- 
ment, 36;  neither  eradicable 
or  acquirable,  36;  in  man, 
36;  defined  as  the  unconscious 
rule  of  conduct  in  upper  ani- 
mal life,  45 ;  role  of,  214. 

Institutions,  voluntary  socie- 
ties, quasi-public,  help  growth 
of  humanistics,  98 ;  definition 
of,  99;  religious,  101-102; 
political,  102;  parallelism  of, 
220-221. 

Insurance,  growth  of  folkways 
in,  206. 

Integration,  definition  and  ex- 
ample of,  199-200. 

Intergroup  sympathies,  potent 
in  a  tribe,  84-85. 

Interstate  Commerce,  Railroad 
and  Public  Utility  commis- 
sions to  enforce  folk-custom, 
255-256. 

Invention,  conducive  to  special- 
ization, 201-202. 

Irish  peasant,  folk-custom  of, 
191. 

Iron  and  steel,  example  of  con- 
centration in  industry,  199- 
200. 

Iron  industry,  effect  of  capital 
in  promoting  efficiency  in,  183. 


Jacob  and  Laban,  a  classic  in- 
stance of  partition  of  goods, 
56. 

Justice,  equity  or  right,  the 
ideal  of,  106. 

Kin-groups,  supplanted  by  in- 
dustrial groups,  147. 

Kinship-custom,  subjection  of 
children,  147-148. 

Kissing,  a  folkway,  its  preva- 
lence, Erasmus  on,  41 ;  dis- 
cussion on,  41-42;  its  decline, 
42. 

Labor  groups,  149-150;  growth 
in  and  subdivisions  of,  183 ; 
percentages  of,  see  Table  I, 
181;  changes  in,  186-187; 
important  business  class,  208. 

Larcom,  Lucy,  example  of  good 
of  factory  system,  176. 

Law,  moral  adjunct  of  human 
nature,  90;  derived  from 
folk-custom,  104;  evolution 
of,  105 ;  declares  folk-custom, 
105;  used  to  adjust  compro- 
mises between  folk-customs, 
106 ;  private  or  common,  106- 
107;  definition  of,  108;  must 
be  supported  by  folk-custom, 
109-110;  lags  behind  folk- 
custom,  112;  definition  of  pri- 
vate and  public,  235-236; 
eccentric  private,  236-237; 
importance  of  public,  237; 
private,  subordinate  to  folk- 
customs,  public  not,  237. 


282 


INDEX 


Legislation,  should  follow  folk- 
feeling,  97;  lags  behind  folk- 
feeling,  189. 

Liberty,  definition  of,  75 ;  per- 
sonal, outcome  of  a  sense  of 
pity,  80;  individualistic  in  its 
force,  80. 

Locke,  rationalism  of,  influenced 
superstition  in  regard  to  in- 
sanity, 94-95. 

Love,  a  nurtureway,  defined, 
116. 

Mackay,  inventor  of  power 
sewing  machine,  202. 

Mala  in  se,  defined,  108-109. 

Mala  prohibita,  defined,  109. 

"Message  to  Garcia,  A,"  63. 

Metals,  types  of  stability  sus- 
pected of  being  subject  to 
change,  2. 

Milk  supply,  example  of  condi- 
tions changed  by  growth  of 
cities,  167-168. 

Money,   evolution   of,   146-147. 

Monopolies,  good  faith  in,  255. 

Morality,  group,  151-153;  defi- 
nition of,  213. 

Morals,  born  in  folkgroups  or 
class-groups,  65 ;  change  of 
viewpoint  of,  in  regard  to 
interest,  in  regard  to  observ- 
ance of  Sabbath,  65 ;  spread 
of,  66 ;  incidence  of,  66 ;  con- 
flictions  of,  67 ;  formulation, 
growth  and  development  of, 
68;  not  invariable,  immut- 
able or  everlasting,  68;  move 


along  a  line  of  constant  evo- 
lution, 69 ;  definition  of,  89- 
90;  varying  codes  of,  90; 
adjuncts,  religion,  law,  con- 
science, etc.,  90-114;  emo- 
tional sources  of,  110;  influ- 
ence of  conscience  on,  110- 
111;  connection  of  economics 
with,  137-139;  confusion  of, 
from  changing  economic  con- 
ditions, 139;  modern  trade, 
outcome  of  necessity  of  quick 
trading,  199;  questions  of, 
raised  by  progressive  speciali- 
zation, 203;  parallelism  of, 
220-221;  conflict  of,  in  life, 
222;  trade,  instances  of,  224; 
impulses,  conflict  of,  with 
economic,  227-228,  232-234; 
trade,  Rule  I  of,  233,  Rule  II 
of,  234-235,  Rule  III  of,  235, 
Rule  IV  of,  237,  Rule  V  of, 
240 ;  essential  to  society,  258 ; 
conflicts  of,  developed  daily, 
260. 

Mores  (see  Folk-custom),  name 
adapted  from  the  Latin  by 
Sumner,  42 ;  folk-custom  mode 
of  nurtureways  collectively 
sometimes  called,  49. 

Mosely  Industrial  Commission, 
report  of,  on  manufacture  of 
shoes,  202. 

Nation,  how  composed,  19; 
more  complex  type  of  social 
compound  than  tribes,  20; 
typifies  a  complex  organic 


INDEX 


283 


compound,  20;  a  peace  group, 
30;  biologically  compared, 
30;  compound  folkgroups,  31; 
definition  of,  219. 

Natureways,  three  phases  of 
behavior  defined,  37;  action 
not  volitional,  45 ;  character- 
istics of,  48 ;  one  of  two  great 
classes  of  human  acts  com- 
posed of  tropisms,  reflexes 
and  instincts,  48 ;  roughly  cor- 
respond to  the  phases  of 
social  evolution,  49 ;  motives 
to  behavior,  74;  classifica- 
tions of,  115;  agelong,  placed 
ahead  of  higher  motives,  119; 
choice  between,  121-122;  and 
nurtureways  usually  less 
determinative  of  conduct  than 
self-consciousness,  160;  modes 
of,  214-215. 

Nervous   system,   role   of,   214. 

Nurtureways,  the  second  great 
class  of  human  acts,  48;  their 
composition,  48 ;  motives  to 
conduct,  74;  influence  of,  on 
conduct,  87,  in  folkways,  88, 
in  folk-customs,  88,  in  human- 
istics,  88-89;  classifications  of, 
116,  215;  conflict  of  lower, 
with  higher  selves,  120;  con- 
scious choice  between,  122; 
definition  of,  216;  can  be 
adjusted  by  choice  of  higher 
modes  of  conduct,  234-23  5; 
individual  must  conform  to, 
of  group  in  which  he  lives, 
238-239. 


Orphanages,  mediaeval,  83. 
Outgroup,   no   need  to   conform 
to  nurtureways  of,  238-239. 

Parallelism,  in  evolution  of  life, 
219;  table  illustrating,  220- 
221. 

Patria  potestas,  an  instance  in 
culture  of  shadowy  folkway, 
56. 

Perfectionists  of  Oneida,  op- 
posed to  competition,  249. 

Perils  of  trade,  195-196;  sup- 
pressed, 196. 

Persecution,  effect  of,  on  folk- 
custom,  191. 

Personality,  progress  of,  in 
mind  of  man,  123-125;  vary- 
ing levels  of,  125-126;  vary- 
ing conditions  of,  126;  an 
evolution,  127-128;  in  bank- 
ing, 128-129;  in  broking,  129- 
131;  control  of  impulse  by, 
160. 

Peter  the  Great,  instanced  to 
show  power  of  folkways,  41. 

Pinel,  Philippe,  notable  work  of, 
in  care  of  insane,  95. 

Pioneer  life  in  West,  effect  of, 
on  folk-custom,  171 ;  on 
finance,  172. 

Pity,  examples  of,  80-84;  de- 
fined, 117;  weak  in  savages, 
118;  highest  of  nurtureways, 
233. 

Political  Economy,  has  to  do 
with  principles  guiding  hu- 
man conduct  toward  gainful 
or  wasteful  ends,  6. 


284 


INDEX 


Political  institutions,  102. 

Polyzoa,  many  cannot  exist  in- 
dependently of  others  of  their 
kind,  9. 

Population,  of  eastern  United 
States,  its  distribution  in  1790 
and  now,  162;  concentrated 
where  transportation  facilities 
are  good,  162;  westward  flow 
of,  164. 

Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Ani- 
mals, 85-86. 

Prices,  cutting  of  local,  con- 
demned by  popular  opinion, 
247-248;  fixed  for  each  mar- 
ket, 254-255. 

Principles  of  action,  value  of, 
134-135. 

Production,  limitation  in  size  of, 
245. 

Professional  groups,  150-151; 
percentages  in,  see  Table  I, 
180-181;  growth  of,  185-186; 
increase  in  number  of,  207. 

Profits,  defined,  153;  business, 
proportioned  to  differences  in 
folkways  of  groups,  154-155; 
in  business,  high,  194-195; 
decreasing,  196-197;  imme- 
diate, should  be  subordinate 
to  folk-customs,  233. 

Progress,  fetich  of,  244;  wor- 
ship of,  244-245. 

Property,  defined  as  right  of  use 
or  control,  54-55;  rights  of, 
in  the  national  phase,  61. 

Psychology,  broadened  by  evo- 
lution, 23. 

Publicity,  to  adjust  perplexities 


from  disparities  of  conduct, 
240;  a  weapon  against  local 
price-cutting,  247-248. 

Quick  trading,  moral  effects  of, 
228 ;  influence  of,  on  candor, 
253. 

Racial  groups,  percentages  in, 
see  Table  I,  178. 

Radio-activity,  study  of  phe- 
nomena of,  leads  to  conclu- 
sion of  growth  and  decay,  2. 

Railroads,  influence  of,  on  eco- 
nomic conditions  leads  to 
moral  confusion,  139-145 ; 
commissions  helped  adjust- 
ment, 144;  socialization  of, 
145 ;  influence  of,  on  folk- 
ways, 166. 

Rappists  of  Economy,  opposed 
to  competition,  249. 

Ready-made  clothing  has  done 
away  with  folkway  of  home- 
making  of  clothing,  174-175; 
growth  of  industry,  184. 

Rebates,  origin  of,  141. 

Reflexes,  defined  and  explained, 
35;  definition  of,  214. 

Religion,  moral  adjunct  of  folk- 
group,  90;  may  be  important 
vehicle  in  spread  of  reform, 
97;  among  primitive  people, 
99-101 ;  should  grow  and 
evolve,  101 ;  lags  behind  folk- 
custom,  112;  principles  of, 
should  not  be  followed  where 
contrary  to  welfare  of  folk, 
237-238. 


INDEX 


285 


Rome,  citizens  of,  designate 
country  P atria,  12. 

Russian-Jewish  immigrant,  folk- 
custom  of,  191. 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  popularized 
orphanages,  83. 

Science,  use  of,  90. 

Self-consciousness,  volition  a 
function  of,  122 ;  evolution  of, 
123  ;  levels  of,  123-125 ;  vary- 
ing conditions  of,  126 ;  an  evo- 
lution, 127-128;  under-devel- 
opment  of,  among  immigrants, 
192-193;  the  determinative 
party  in  conduct,  217. 

Self-respect,  highest  level  of 
personality,  124-125 ;  fitted  to 
adjust  perplexities  from  dis- 
parities of  character,  240. 

Self-sufficing  type  of  industry 
changed  to  business  type 
among  laborers,  209. 

Sentimentalist  often  forgets  end 
in  means,  132. 

Sewing  machine,  progress  in 
folkways  due  to,  174. 

Shakers  of  New  Lebanon,  op- 
posed to  competition,  249. 

Slavery,  formerly  a  folk-custom, 
approved  by  ancients,  46;  an 
inheritance  from  Roman  Em- 
pire existing  for  thirteen  cen- 
turies of  Christian  Era,  46; 
cause  of  leisure  which  re- 
sulted in  Hebrew  pre-emi- 
nence in  literature  and  poetry, 
Greek  in  art  and  philosophy, 
Roman  in  politics,  public 


works  and  conquest,  47;  sur- 
vived in  Scotland  until  1775 
and  1779,  in  a  few  German 
principalities  until  1848,  pre- 
vailed in  New  York  until 
1840,  eighteen  victims  of,  in 
New  Jersey  in  1860,  47. 

Social  groups,  growth  of,  see 
Table  I,  177. 

Social  organism,  compared  with 
organic  body,  24-25. 

Socialism,  in  competition  with 
individualism,  76 ;  early  state, 
206 ;  against  competition, 
248-249. 

Socialization  of  railways,   145. 

Society,  defined,  5 ;  what  it  is 
not,  5 ;  bond  which  unites 
men  into,  5-6 ;  fabric  upon 
which  is  embroidered  moral 
conduct,  8 ;  no  conditions  of 
man  under  which  there  was 
no,  traced  in  fossil  age,  8 ; 
social  traits  of  lower  animals, 
9 ;  among  higher  mammals, 
causes  of  human,  10 ;  sub- 
human origin  of,  11;  progress 
of,  in  evolution,  23 ;  compared 
with  living  body,  24-25 ;  im- 
portance of,  in  character  for- 
mation, 218;  structure  of,  218- 
219;  parallelism  of,  220-221; 
essential  to  individual  wel- 
fare, 258. 

Sociological  atom,  molecule. 
See  Family. 

Specialization,  group,  fostered 
by  invention,  201-202. 


286 


INDEX 


Spinning-jenny,  invention  of, 
gave  birth  to  factory  system, 
174. 

Standardization,  in  merchan- 
dise and  transportation,  198; 
has  led  to  concentration,  199; 
to  integration,  199;  of  quali- 
ties and  prices,  228-229;  of 
conduct,  229. 

Statutes,  origin  and  definition 
of,  104. 

Steam  navigation,  effect  on  busi- 
ness, 164. 

Steam  power,  effect  of  introduc- 
tion of,  into  industries,  173- 
176. 

Steel  Corporation,  evolution  of, 
199-200. 

Stewart,  Alexander  T.,  dis- 
covered efficiency  of  stan- 
dardized prices,  228-229. 

Street  railways,  astounding 
growth  of,  184-185. 

Subgroups,  divisions  of,  exem- 
plified, 21 ;  no  longer  com- 
pact, 22;  rise  of  industrial 
type  of,  leading  characteristic 
of  civilization,  23 ;  biological, 
physical  and  chemical  analo- 
gies help  in  understanding  of, 
instanced  by  comparison  with 
unit  of  biological  structure, 
24;  comparison  of,  with  verte- 
brate animals,  25;  interde- 
pendence of,  on  each  other 
and  on  folkgroup,  25 ;  birth  of 
new,  the  railway,  145 ;  stan- 
dards not  necessarily  folk- 


group  standards,  152;  conflict 
of,  morals,  153. 

Success,  definition  and  discus- 
sion of,  229-233. 

Sumner,  William  Graham, 
"Folkways"  by,  quoted  from, 
10. 

Supernatural,  belief  in,  among 
primitive  men,  99-100;  in- 
spires fear,  100. 

Sutherland,  quoted  on  influence 
of  sympathy  on  evolution,  78- 
79. 

Sympathy,  defined,  77;  origin 
of,  in  parental  instinct,  77; 
its  psychic  aspect,  78 ;  influ- 
ence on  evolution  as  stated 
by  Sutherland,  78-79;  motive 
for  Humanistics,  80;  inter- 
group,  potent  in  tribe,  84-85; 
now  accepted  as  folk-custom, 
85 ;  growth  of,  shown  in  pre- 
vention of  cruelty  to  animals, 
85-86. 

Table  I,  growth  of  groups  com- 
pared with  population  in 
United  States,  1860-1910,  177- 
181;  II,  parallelism  in  evolu- 
tion of  life,  220-221. 

Tax  assessment,  example  of 
diversity  of  folk-custom  and 
law,  225-227. 

Taxation,  changes  in,  206. 

Temperament,  described,  132; 
function  of,  in  character,  217- 
218. 

Textile  industry,  introduction  of 
steam  power  in,  caused 


INDEX 


287 


change  in  folkways,  173-176; 
growth  of  groups  in,  183-184. 

Titanic,  disaster  to,  probably 
marked  end  of  epoch,  211. 

Trade  groups,  selling  agents, 
brokers,  etc.,  149 ;  percentages 
in,  see  Table  I,  180;  growth 
of,  184. 

Trades-union,  lower  groups  of, 
survival  of  anti-social  class- 
customs,  250. 

Trading,  quick,  new  folkway, 
198. 

Traffic,  139-145;  sea-borne,  142. 

Transportation,  in  United 
States,  illustration  of  moral 
confusion  from  changing  eco- 
nomic conditions,  139-145; 
.  key  to  concentration  of  social 
groups,  162;  former  condi- 
tions of,  162-165;  made  effi- 
cient for  dairy  products,  169. 

Transportation  groups,  149 ; 
percentages  of,  see  Table  I, 
180;  changes  in,  184-185. 

Tribes,  how  composed,  14;  com- 
pared to  compound  of  mole- 
cules, 14;  composition  of 
organization  of,  15;  rise  of 
nobility  in,  15-16;  coalescence 
of,  into  national  groups,  18; 
conflicts  of,  retard  develop- 
ment of  roads,  18-19;  struc- 
tural contrast  between  nations 
and,  19;  elements  of  nations, 
20;  war  groups,  29;  com- 
pared with  folkgroups  and 
with  multicellular  organisms, 
29;  efficiency  in  war  of,  their 


coherent  force,  29-30;  defini- 
tion of,  219. 

Tropisms,  defined  biologically, 
34;  definition  of,  214. 

Tuke,  William,  influential  in 
founding  York  Retreat  for 
the  insane,  95. 

Twilight  zone  of  moral  con- 
duct, 112. 

Urban  groups,  increase  in,  182. 

Vanity,   a   nurtureway,   116-117. 

Volition,  definition  of,  122;  de- 
velopment of,  in  man,  216; 
function  of,  217;  regulates 
conduct,  260. 

Wage-earners,  most  important 
business  group,  208. 

Warranties,  implied,  rise  of, 
205 ;  feature  of  modern  trade, 
253. 

Wealth,  as  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess, 230-232. 

West  India  Isles,  Creole  popu- 
lation of,  instance  of  folk- 
custom,  65. 

White  peril,  result  of  immigra- 
tion, 193. 

Witchcraft,  belief  in  regard  to 
insane,  92. 

Women  in  industry,  increasing 
employment  of,  209-210. 

Woolens,   manufacture   of,  245. 

Young,  Thomas,  author  of  essay 
on  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to 
Animals,  86. 


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